A True Leader
by baileystar
Summary: Sequel to 'What It Takes To Be a Hero'. Brooke has begun to fit in to being a Prime. But with the Autobots exploring new planets to call home, she has to get used to life without them, especially when a new foe arrives onto the scene. OptimusxOC, some Ironhidex(other)OC
1. Akila Walters Hide

_A person, who no matter how desperate the situation, gives others hope, is a true leader._

_Daisaku Ikeda_

As I looked around, I had to take in all I was seeing. I was walking down a great rolled out white carpet, resting over green grass. In the chairs to my left were all of the Autobots' (plus I few ex-Decepticons') holoforms and, to my right, was my family. Lying ahead was an older man in a suit with a Bible in his hands. We had been planning this for weeks, and now it was time.

I felt a squeeze and looked up to see the smiling face I always knew. My blue haired boyfriend, known to my family as Orion Pax, smiled back at me. His smile kept me from tripping over my dress as I walked over the carpet.

We walked together down the aisle and he released my arm when we got to the end. Optimus moved to the left of priest. On that side was the holoforms of Bumblebee, and Ratchet. Closer to the priest was that of Ironhide, his shaggy brown hair combed back and his stubble shaved off. He looked so clean and proper (Which was a rarity for the weapon's master). I went to the right of the priest, next to my mother and Arcee.

Finally, she came. Everyone stood up in the aisle as Akila was led by our dad. Her white dress, themed to be Egyptian, with a golden necklace that reminded me of what pharaohs wore. He was tight down her body, with similar golden beads around her hips and her knees. From her knees, the dress fell out in a train. Her silk veil, one from her mother, was wrapped around her head. I smiled as I saw Ironhide's mouth drop open at his future wife's beauty.

She walked to the end of the aisle and dad handed Akila off. Ironhide pulled back her veil, with the clip holding it in place had an Autobot symbol on it (A special piece made by my mother). Her hair, usually pulled into a ponytail, was now down and curled to perfection. She radiated beauty.

The priest said his piece from the Bible about marriage and finally left it for Akila and Ironhide to say their vows.

"I, Akila, choose you, Aaron, to embark upon this great journey of marriage with me. Together, we can accomplish anything. I pledge my all to you. In sickness, I will nurse you back to health. In health, I will encourage you on your path. In sadness, I will help you to remember. In happiness, I will be there making memories with you. In poverty, I will do all that I can to make our love rich. And in wealth, I will never let our love grow poor," Akila spoke, not leaving Ironhide's eyes once.

Ironhide cleared his throat. "I, Aaron, take you, Akila, as my soul mate and companion. Together, our love will grow into a bond too strong to break. Through the good and bad, I want you to always know that I will be by your side. When you need someone to encourage you, I want it to be me. When you need a helping hand, I want it to be mine. When you long for someone to smile at, turn to me. When you have something to share, share it with me," he said.

Akila's eyes watered up and I smiled at her. The priest said a few more words and finally, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Ironhide leaned towards Akila, wiped her tears, and kissed her deeply.

Everyone cheered and a few tears even came to my eyes. There went my sister, off to marry Ironhide. My sister, now titled Mrs. Akila Hide. My sister, who thought Ironhide was the most annoying, perverted man in existence. My sister, who was now radiating beauty and she and Ironhide walked towards the building to get ready for the after party.

The bride's maids and the groom's men all lined out, pairing with their respective partner. Bee went with Arcee, Ratchet with my mother (the two had grown fonder since my mother went to nursing school), and Optimus walked with me.

"Brooke…you're leaking…are you sad?" Optimus asked.

I smiled and wiped the tears. "I'm sorry…no, they're tears of happiness Optimus," I explained.

We got to the building and Optimus stopped and wiped the tears for me. "I do not wish to see you cry," he said, and placed a kiss to my forehead. I smiled at him and we went to take pictures before the after party.

The pictures were easy, with the bride and groom with the Autobots, then mom and I, then with all of us. That then led into pictures of the bride with her maids, the groom with his men, and one picture of Ironhide and I, new siblings-in-law.

When we got down to the party, it seemed that a lot of my family took use of the open bar. They were dancing like crazy. After the hustle and bustle about Akila was relatively over, they turned to Optimus and I, with Optimus being my first real boyfriend and all.

Finally, it was time for Akila to toss the bouquet. I got in the crowd and she tossed it out. It was funny, because even though I didn't even really try to catch it, it fell right in my hands. Akila smiled at me while Ironhide nudged Optimus in the gut.

After the party was over, Ironhide and Akila got in their 'Just Married' black truck (cough, Ironhide, cough) and drove off to their honeymoon at a cabin near the beach.

We drove back to the Autobot base where my family now had permanent housing. Maybe it was because I am a Prime or something…who knows?

I sat down in my bed, a letter framed next to it. It read, in simple terms:

"Dear Virimus Prime,

We at NEST are proud to say that, with her position of Prime, you have also been promoted as a Commander of NEST and the Autobots. We are glad to welcome you to NEST!"

I smiled as I fell onto the bed. What an amazing day. Now what was going to happen tomorrow?

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><p><em>Hey guys, and welcome to the sequel to 'What It Takes To Be a Hero'! I know I teased you guys with the sneak peek but, sorry guys, Brooke isnt getting married! I'm not doing THAT much of a time skip! She's only 17 in this story! And Akila is 20 and takes online college coarses. So guys, hope you like it!<em>


	2. Rebuild

_Hello everyone and welcome to chapter two! I'm sorry this is somewhat short, but I still have no clue where the plot is going... ^^;_  
><em>So, if you guys have any ideas as to what you want to see in this story, please tell me! I have much more free time now because my computer is back from being fixed (YAY!) and I'm in that month between Winter Guard and Color Guard where I have nothing to do, so I write! So please, read on!<em>

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><p>When I woke up the next morning, the room felt so empty. I mean, I knew it was going to be like this, since Akila had started to move her stuff to Ironhide's room a week ago, but I still felt lonely.<p>

"Wakey wakey! Time for a new day of planning!" Bumblebee yelled as his holoform burst through the door. So much for being lonely!

"Noooo," I wined, blocking the light from my eyes.

I also forgot: it was Sunday, meaning that the Autobot commanders would meet with the government officials to talk about recent everts and future plans. And guess what? As an addition to being Prime, I became an Autobot commander, and have to spend my Sundays at these meetings. I usually didn't speak that much, but just listened in to the conversations Optimus had with them.

"You don't want to keep the officials waiting, do you?" Bee pasked, shaking me awake.

I punched his arm and rolled to the side. "Leave me alone! They can go without me!" I begged.

Bumblebee picked my up and threw me over his shoulder. "Let's go!" he yelled.

I began to bang on his back. "Hey! Let me go! I have to change!" Bee set me down and warned me that if I wasn't out in 15 minutes, he was coming to get me.

So I quickly pulled on a pink blouse and a black skirt. I was just finishing with my makeup when Bee came in, grabbed me bridal style, and carried me out of the room.

I was carried over to the meeting room without a second glance given toward us. It was a common fact, even to the government officials, that I hated meetings. We just sat there and stated the obvious.

Bee finally put me down, wished me luck, and left. I sighed and walked into the meeting room. The government officials were all talking among themselves while Optimus was sitting in his seat. I sat down next to me and Optimus wrapped an arm around me. "Good morning," he greeted.

"Well, it *was* good," I moaned.

Optimus rubbed my back and said, "It'll be fine. We can go for ice cream afterwards, ok?" It made me super happy, so I quieted down.

"Now that everyone is here, we can start. Any problems this week, Prime?" the one nice official, Wemmick, asked.

I assumed he was talking to Optimus, and not me. Usually Wemmick calls me Brooke but everyone else just calls me Virimus (Which is a little weird if you ask me...).

"None whatsoever. A wonderful wedding and peace," he said.

"And the energon supply?"

I spoke up, "Perfectly fine ever since we found all of the Deception's records on Earth's energon supply."

The officials stared at me like I had grown a third head. I never talked in these meetings, and never gave myself a voice. Sometimes I wondered if some of the officials thought I was mute. Maybe I was just over being ignored.

"Yes, well, in other matters, the president wants to know your plans for the future of your team," the lead official asked. I believe his name was McArthur.

"We plan to live on Earth and help it gain peace as long as we can. But as we do, we also are searching for another planet to rebuild Cybertron on," Optimus explained.

"So when you find a planet, you will leave?"

"Precisely."

What? What. Did. He. Just. Say? So when they find a new planet they're just gonna up and leave? Ironhide's going to abandon Akila? And Optimus me? We can't survive on another planet! 'All good things come to an end,' my mother's voice rings in my head. But this soon? With their technology, they could find a new suitable planet in a week!

"So sources report that Megatron's spark is still alive… Is this true, Prime?" another, more cold-hearted official named Jaggers, asked.

Optimus got in a pensive position. "While Brooke's electrical impulses did explode the Decepticon ship, we are currently unsure of Megatron's location. However, we have scanned throughout your whole galaxy and his spark signature is nowhere to be found. If he comes back, we'll know about it," he explained.

"And how do we not know that Megatron, if still alive, is not still commanded the so-called 'ex-Decepticons' that have joined your forces?" he asked.

"Soundwave and Knockout have pledged their allegiance to us. I have no doubt in their loyalty."

McArthur looked intently at Optimus. "So these ex-Decepticons have pledged their allegiance to you now? To the Autobots? They've already turned on the Decepticons, who's to say that they won't turn on you? Who's to say that Megatron may not offer them a better deal, hm?" he asked. He made a good point, and I would have responded had it not been for my body still being in shock.

"They are good men, sir. And I urge you to reconsider your view on these hard working soldiers. They have done nothing but good since they got here. Knockout has aided Ratchet in the clinic, and Soundwave has joined me in the sercurity. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have another appointment," Optimus half-growled. He stood up, grabbed my hand, and led me out of the room. He looked so mad, but tried to calm himself at the same time.

My thoughts went all over the place in panic as he led me away from the meeting room. I was a little freaking out at how mad Optimus was, but mostly, I was freaking out at the fact that the Autobots may be leaving. My stomach was in knots at the fact that I may have to return to being just an average kid.

"Ready for ice cream?" Optimus asked, trying to calm down.

I shook my head and stood up. "U-Um, I actually have a stomach ache," I half-lied.

Optimus's eyes filled with concern. "I understand, that was very stressful. Should I take you to Ratchet?" he asked.

"No, no, I'm fine. Just have to go lay down for a bit." I ran out of the office and into my quarters.

My quarters were just another reminder of how the Autobots have changed my life. There was a photostrip of Bumblebee and I from my birthday last year. A framed picture from when Optimus took me to homecoming. The framed certificate making me a commander of NEST. All was given to me by the Autobots. Without them...ugh, I don't even wanna think about it.

How could I live without them?

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><p><em>eheu! (Latin for 'Oh no!') What is Brooke going to do without the Autobots? And are these ex-Decepticons really that trustful at all? Find out next time, R&amp;R!<br>_

_P.S. Anyone who can guess where I got the name Jaggers and Wemmick from gets an Energon cookie! I'm reading this book in class with these characters in it and I couldn't think of names, so this's it! _


	3. How Could You Leave Me?

_Sorry for taking forever to upload, but I had NO CLUE where his story was going. But today, while eating dinner, my dad and I made up ideas for the rest of this story (My dad's first suggestion was to add in Spock, Yoda, and Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory, haha) and we figured out what all is happening for this story and let me tell you, you guys are in for a ride! This is going to be sooo amazing...and at some parts, you're really going to hate me, but just stay through till the end! It'll be good, I swear!_

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><p>My day was not turning for the better. It started out as a pretty bad day, what with the shock of the idea that the Autobots may be leaving. Now, there was a thunderstorm. Now don't get me wrong, I love thunderstorms with a passion, it's just when tornados are everywhere that I freak out. So since there was a very active, tornado-producing storm coming right for us, we had to crowd into the underground bunker.<p>

The fancy technology, Autobot and human, were stored downstairs with us, while the lesser technology that could easily be replaced was left.

I changed from my fancy meeting clothes to a black tank top, Optimus's red jacket with the flame design, skinny jeans, and black combat boots. I then grabbed an extra pair of clothes, threw some of my pictures in a drawstring bag, and went downstairs. Once there, all of the Autobots alt forms (And expensive military vehicles) were lined up along the back wall while the Autobots' holoforms were around the room.

While down there, I preoccupied myself by playing iPod games with Bumblebee. Optimus tried to get me to stay near him, but I avoided watching the news during bad storms.

"Geez, terrible storm, huh?" I looked up, seeing Sam walk into the bunker. And, guess what? He was wearing a diaper bag! Behind him was an un-pregnant Mikaela. In her arms was a young boy with curly light brown hair. Ben James Witwicky: named after Sam's and my ever-so-faithful guardian.

"I'm glad you made it Sam," Optimus greeted.

Sam nodded towards him, saying, "Thank you for inviting us to come. The storms are brutal here."

Ben was put on the floor and he climbed towards Bee and I. Bee picked him up and snuggled him close. It was cute how close Bee was to his godchild. I loved Ben, for he had his mother's sass and his father's clumsiness.

We were playing with Ben for a while when Optimus called me over to where he was. I slowly walked over, and he pulled me into his lap. "Are you okay? You seem a little… 'off', as you humans would put it," he asked me.

Was I off? Yes, Optimus, I was a little off. The fact that you decided to fall in love with me but forget to inform me of the fact that you might be leaving Earth may have made me a little 'off'. The fact that Ironhide didn't tell Akila this, yet they got MARRIED made me a little 'off'.

"I-It's just the storm…," I lied. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I just tell Optimus the truth? We had been dating for almost a year now, so why was I still scared of telling him what I feel?

'No, Optimus, I don't want you to ever leave, I want you to stay on Earth and have to deal with the annoying American government forever.' That's the only way I could make it sound. I couldn't make it sound good at all.

Optimus narrowed his eyes at me. "Brooke, you're lying to me," he said.

"Just leave it Optimus!" I yelled, just loud enough to get the point across but quiet enough so not everyone could hear me.

Before he could respond, the bunker began to shake. Outside, it sounded like a large train was on top of us. Different pieces of the roof began to fall down.

"Everyone, stations!" Optimus yelled.

My eyes widened: The tornado was here. My mind wiped of all the conversations I had as my first thought was just getting myself and my friends to safety. I saw a lot of the soldiers jump in their military vehicles or other Autobots. Bumblebee grabbed Ben and he, Sam, and Mikaela all ran towards his alt form. And before I knew it, Optimus had finished scanning the area and was dragging me to his alt form.

Once inside, we went to the back where his cot was and sat down. "Autobots," Optimus said, messaging the other Autobots and soldiers, "I don't want to risk the fact that the roof may fall in on us, so stay in your stations until morning. Prime out."

Once over, Optimus turned to me and I smiled. "You just wanted alone time with me," I told him with a chuckle.

"Possibly. Now what is wrong with you?" he asked.

I sighed. Now or never? "I know you need a new planet, and you can't stay on Earth but…," Tears welled up in my eyes, "How could you leave me? How could Ironhide leave Akila? We can't travel in space! There's no way we could follow you. So if you find a new planet, we're going to be alone. I know you have to go, because you're a Prime and all, but, I mean, how could you just leave us?"

So that was it. I told Optimus how I felt, and it sounded just as cold-hearted as I thought it would. And to make matters worse, the tears started flowing down my eyes. I have been through Decepticon attacks, broken bones, even dying, without shedding a single tear. Yet here I was, bawling over some boy.

But he wasn't any boy. He was Optimus Prime.

Still, Optimus embraced me and I cried into his shoulder. I cried and cried, not just because of this, but because of everything. It was as if the tears I should have shed before decided to come out. I didn't want to cry. I even tried to stop. But I couldn't.

Finally, when my well ran dry, Optimus put his hands on my shoulder and pulled me away. He then used his thumb to wipe away my tears and said, "Brooke, please, stop crying."

"I don't think I can anymore," I said with a smile.

"The planet we move to is not certain. Who knows; maybe we can find a planet with oxygen and you and Akila can come too. But I can promise you two things: Ironhide will not leave Akila, and I will not leave you," he assured. He then laid me down on the cot and cuddled up next to me.

"Make sure the roof doesn't fall in," I asked of him.

"I promise."

The base was a total dump.

When I woke up the next morning, Optimus was driving out of the bunker. I moved up to the passenger seat and froze as I looked at the base, or what was left of it. Everything was crumbled to the ground. Where my room was, the mess hall, the clinic…everything. It was just rubble.

"W- Did it really do this?" I asked as I surveyed the area. Before Optimus could answer, I jumped out of his cab and ran to the rubble (Luckily I was wearing boots, so the rubble didn't hurt my feet). Optimus transformed and looked around the area. All of the Autobots and soldiers came out unscathed and were as shocked as I was.

"Optimus, this is going to take months to rebuild," Will Lennox said. "The Autobots are going to have to relocate."

Optimus turned and looked at his now-transformed soldiers, and started giving them the humans who they were to stay with.

Ratchet was going to stay with Mason Mitchell. Mason was a single, middle aged man who lived in an apartment building. While I'm sure it'll be weird, I bet the two will have fun discussing medical treatments and such.

Mirage was going with Commander Sean Holden. Sean was a soldier that was, in all terms, geeky. So pairing him up with the 'bot of love was perfect. Maybe he's actually be good looking by the time the base is rebuilt.

Skids and Mudflap were going to spend their time with a female soldier, Kim. Kim Allen was, in all terms, a country girl. She lived on a farm out in the middle of Arizona and had plenty of rough terrain for the two mechs.

Arcee was with Krige. Jack Krige was a single father with a toddler girl. It was going to be interesting with Arcee's nurturing ways, and her longing for a child.

Sides and Sunny were going with snooty pants, Mr. Robert Danna the Third. That kid was a party animal and really only joined the army because the former Robert Danna's were also all in the army. And every time he came back from leave, he always had a crazy hangover.

Prowl was with Patrick Bowen, our head hacked. The man was a notorious stalker, and would have been kicked out of the army were it not for his skill and vitality to us. Maybe they could learn a bit from each other.

Bumblebee, Wheelie, and Brains all were assigned to Sam. I know I'll miss Bee, but his main focus now was protecting Ben, and Optimus pretty much took over his job as my protector (Though I've pretty much proven that I can protect myself. Wheelie and Brains were pretty easy to watch as long as they didn't find the washer machine (They loved getting in it, disconnecting the water valve, and turning it on so they would just spin around for an hour of endless fun).

Finally, Optimus, Knockout, and Soundwave were all going to stay with 'me', or, actually, our emergency home. (Mom never really bought a home since we moved into the base, and plus, she was often gone on book tours ((Oh yeah guys, she wrote a book on her travels! Leaving out the Autobots, of course)), so she trusted the Autobots to look out for me while I was gone). The house was right outside the city limits, and had about six rooms in it, plus a giant field surrounding it so the Autobots could be transformed and have a lot of room.

I was a little nervous about ex-Decepticons staying with me. I mean, sure, I did trust them, but still… Soundwave scared me, what with his no-face and weird way of speaking. Knockout actually amused me because of his obsession with good looks and, don't get me wrong, he did look good. But still, I was worried. And who knows how the cultures will clash when Akila and Ironhide come home?

So everyone was on leave until further notice and the Autobots went with their respective humans. This was going to be an interesting month.

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><p><em>So now begins our newest arc: human life! So each new chapter is going revolve around each of the Autobots and their awesome human friends! It'll end with Brooke and her awesome house filled with ex-Decepticons...haha. Please review; they make me want to update more! Also, congrats to 'ImSexyAndYouKnowItGlitch' (Love the username!) and 'Sigyn' for guessing that Wemmick and Jaggers are from Great Expectations! Free energon cookies for you both!<em>


	4. Ex-Decepticon Autobots

_Holy Primus guys...I don't know WHAT happened with this chapter. It's like I just ran out of ideas... I wasn't going to upload it, but seeing as I'll be in Louisiana all next week, I won't be able to upload anything, I wanted to give you something to chew on. Please don't give up on me, I swear there's a good plot coming up, i just need to figure out how to get there!_

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><p>The house we were to stay at looked just as I remembered: with it beautifully decorated rooms, with the theme of a country house. It was even more beautiful with the twilight sun reflecting on it. There was a giant barn that was converted into the garage, which fit Optimus, Knockout, and Soundwave's jet form (the roof opened up to let him land). While the trio was in the home, they had to have holoforms.<p>

Soundwave had on a light grey suit with a black tie. He wore red sunglasses over his eyes and medium length silver hair. His mouth seemed to be in in a permanent straight line. In fact, I don't think I have seen his mouth move once.

Knockout's holoform was, indeed, a hunk. He dressed like a guy from the city, in a black shirt, maroon short sleeve jacket, and dark jeans. He also wore a silver watch and dog tags. His hair… Oh geez, his hair. I fell weak for his hair. It was thick and red, like the color of his jacket, and was spiked up, making it look like he spent hours on it.

Optimus smiled as he watched my awed face when I entered the large home. Upstairs, Knockout and Soundwave got the rooms next to each other, and Optimus and I got the rooms next to each other, with two rooms between.

"Knock knock," Optimus said as he walked into my room. I was sitting on my bed, unpacking the few mementoes I saved from the tornado. "What are you doing?"

"Just looking at these old photos… I somehow saved one from when Akila and I were in Egypt, years ago. Check it out," I said, handing him the photo. It was probably taken a bit before we saw the Autobot/Decepticon battle, because we both had smiles on our faces. Akila had her black hair, which was much curlier back then, in pink tails. She had on an orange scoop neck shirt and black shorts on. I had on a Lion King on Broadway shirt and jean shorts, with my blond hair cut up to my ears. You could see the pyramids in the background.

Optimus smiled at the picture and sat down on the side of the bed. "This is cute," he said. He leaned over to me and looked at the other pictures. The others were more recent, such as the photo strip of Bee and I. Finally I got to the framed picture of Optimus and I from homecoming and it made us both smile.

"That was a fun night," I told him, my mind filling with memories of that night. Of course, I got some weird looks, what with Optimus looking a bit older than other people's dates.

Optimus lay back on the bed and I went down too, with my head resting on his arm. "I'm glad everything is peaceful now. It gives everyone a chance to relax and look back on things," he said.

"Agreed," I said. Now that I look at it, my whole adventure of my mother being gone seemed like it happened so quickly. But when I was in the action, it seemed to happen so slowly. "And I'm glad you're not so stressed anymore." Optimus always had a serious leader tone in his voice, but ever since the war ended he seemed to have calmed down.

We sat there for a while until I finally got up and looked around. "It's getting dark. I need to call my mom."

My mom was, to say the least, freaking out. She threatened to end her book tour early, but I wouldn't let her. She always dreamed of publishing a book, so I wouldn't let her end it for any reason.

"I'm fine mom, Optimus will watch out for me," I told her.

Mom chuckled a bit and said, "Oh yeah. Just remember that you're only seventeen and don't need a baby."

"Oh my gosh, mom!" I yelled. "Y-You gotta stop with all these references! Do you not trust me?"

"Oh no, I do," she said, "but no teen PLANS a baby, now do they?"

"Bye mom!" I yelled in an annoyed tone, and shut off the phone. Optimus looked concerned as I put the phone away. "My mom's being weird, that's all."

Optimus then zoned out, as he did normally when he was getting a communication from another Autobot. His face turned to a stressful look and finally to confusion. "I have to go," he said, getting off of my bed.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I have to get Mirage, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Sean Holden, and Robert Danna out of human custody," he groaned.

I gave him a look. Everyone, I could see them in human custody, but Sean? Quiet Sean who was a geeky guy? And it just got dark, how could they have ALREADY gotten arrested? I hugged Optimus goodbye and he went to go bail them out.

Since he was gone, I went downstairs to see what Knockout and Soundwave were up to. When I got downstairs, the lights were all off and there wasn't a single soul. "Knockout? Soundwave?" I called out. No answer.

I went from room to room and no one was there. It looked as if the house was deserted. My heart began to race: What if Knockout and Soundwave were really still Decepticons, and now that Optimus is gone, they're going to kill me?

I looked around one was time. I had to get out. This was really freaking me out. Suddenly I heard a crack in the floor behind me. Electricity built up in my hands and I readied myself for battle. Then I turned around and raised my hand to fire.

"Now, now, save that for REAL Decepticons," Knockout purred as he grabbed my hand which was buzzing with electric power. Soundwave was leaned against the wall with his regular pursed lips, and, through his sunglasses, I could see that he was focused on me.

"Where in the Pit were you guys?" I growled to him, cutting off the electricity to my hand.

"You know, here and there, everywhere. Why do you wish to know?" Knockout purred again, almost as if flirting with me.

I looked him in the eye, trying to be impervious to his flirting (Which was hard because, as stated earlier, he was really cute). "I like to know where all of my Autobots are," I lied. Wait, did I just say 'my'? What was I, Optimus?

Before he could reply, my stomach gave off a low grumble and he smirked. He then put his arm around me and led me to the kitchen, with Soundwave following us. "Do you mean that you like to keep track of all your ex-Decepticon Autobots, right?" he asked.

"What? No, it's not like that, I mean-"

"Relax, I would be worried if I were you too. You never know when we could," he leaned down and whispered in my ear, "get a little rough."

I almost fell to his charms but then I backed away from under his arm. "Look, I know you're trying to flirt, but I'm-"

"Prime's girl?" Knockout interrupted. "Yeah, I know that. But you can always have some fun."

"Whoa, whoa!" I yelled, pushing him back. "I don't play like that. I'm with Optimus, and I will always be with him. So…just back off." I looked over at Soundwave. "Um, are you going to do anything?" I asked. He just looked at me and said nothing. I groaned and walked to the kitchen.

Knockout moved and sat on the kitchen counter. "So why don't you trust us, hm?" he asked.

"I do trust you."

He chuckled and said, "Right, that's why you almost electrocuted me."

I groaned and grabbed an apple from the fridge. "Sorry, it's hard to imagine the people I've been fighting against being on my side," I explained, even though I didn't know Soundwave a year ago. In fact, I only knew him from the databases before I found that he was on a mission every time I was with Megatron.

"Well start getting used to it," Knockout said, "because we're here to stay!"

I groaned. THIS was going to be an interesting time here…

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><p><em>Also, just PS guys, PLEASE don't tell me that I should pair my characters with someone else. I've gotten about 3 or 4 reviews on things 'What I Takes To Be a Hero' related about how I should pair the characters up with other people. It's my story and I chose to pair these characters up with who they are paired with. I don't mean to rant, but it's getting kinda annoying...<em>


	5. A Terrible Prime

_Wow guys, who's a bad author, I am! I haven't updated in 6 months, omg! I'm sorry, but high school has been kicking my butt! 3 Gifted Classes+1 AP Class+Newspaper+Latin=One very stressed out Bailey. Add in a guy screwing me over and breaking my heart, and my iPod with all my stories on it dying, and you get the destruction of Bailey's will to write! Please keep those reviews coming, because they really help me want to write more. Thanks!_

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><p>When I woke up in the morning, the smell of burnt bacon filled my senses. I ran down the stairs to see Knockout and Optimus, standing over the stove. Oh no…<p>

"What are you doing?" I asked.

The holoforms turned and Knockout groaned. "Your human food is confusing," he said. I looked into the skillet to see bacon that was shriveled and burnt to a crisp. It didn't even look like bacon anymore, but it looked like a big ball of burnt.

"I apologize," Optimus said. "I was attempting to prepare you substance, but it seems as though I need more knowledge to complete the task."

I sighed and just hugged him. "It's sweet," I said. "Thanks for this." I reached and grabbed the least-burnt piece and took a bite, with an exaggerated 'Mmmm'.

Optimus chuckled and moved a strand of hair out of my face. "Perhaps you would prefer to eat out somewhere?" he asked. I nodded and we walked out to his Peterbilt self. He drove me to a nearby diner.

Now, the town where we were currently located was very rural. The population probably couldn't be over 1,000 people. So when our crew rolled in with our fancy cars and unusual colored hair, we weren't exactly welcome. I especially was as Optimus looked 21 to my only 17 years.

"So I need to talk to you about something," Optimus began as the waitress placed a plate of pancakes in front of me. "The Wreckers-"

"Wow, look, these pancakes have chocolate chips!" I interrupted. I normally wouldn't mention the odd fact, but I loathed talking about the Wreckers. Whenever we talked about them, the topic of the Autobots leaving was always brought up.

"Brooke, please," Optimus begged.

"Optimus," I interrupted again, "please don't make me talk about this now."

Optimus sighed in defeat and I ate my breakfast in an awkward silence. Afterwards, we paid and I got back in Optimus to go home. Only, when we got on the road we turned on to go back to the house, he didn't turn. I asked him where we were going, but I was only given the silent treatment as he stared at the road in determination. Finally, we rolled up to the forest on the outskirts of the town and opened my door.

I got out of the car and watched for Optimus. He transformed into his true form, one I haven't seen in a while since we came to this small place.

Optimus kneeled down and asked, "Why are you unhappy?"

"What do you mean?"

Optimus stood up and began walking in the woods, with me following. "Ever since I have spoken on the Wreckers, you have seemed distant. You barely speak to Bumblebee anymore, and you have yet to call Akila on her honeymoon," he explained.

I sighed. "Well what do you want me to say?" I asked.

Optimus stopped and looked down at me. "I want you to tell me the truth!" he yelled. My eyes widened: he never yelled. This caused tears to well up in my eyes, but I held them back.

"You know what, fine!" I yelled. "I don't want you to leave. And maybe I'm separating myself so I can get used to life without you! I know you have to go find a new planet, but I just hate that you led me on just so you could leave me to go to another planet!"

Optimus's eyes softened and he muttered my name, but I didn't want to hear it. In a flash, I took off running deeper and deeper into the woods, until I couldn't hear Optimus calling my name anymore. I ran as far as my feet could carry me and finally sat down against a thick tree.

"What are you doing?" a disappointed voice asked. I jumped and turned to see the human version of Jolt. "You're not one to run away," he said.

"Leave me alone," I demanded. I loved Jolt, but now just wasn't the time.

"No," he rejected. "I'm going to convince you to go back to Optimus. He has the fate of an entire race on his hands, and now he is so worried about you that he cannot think of his people. You are a Prime as well as he is. Do you think Optimus ran away when his planet was on the verge of collapsing? No, he went straight in to battle. It's time for you to step up and serve your people." With that, Jolt disappeared.

I sighed; he had a point. I was given the position of Prime for a reason. The Primes wanted someone to help Optimus lead the Cybertronians, and that person was me. But it seemed as though I was just hurting more than helping.

Slowly, I drug myself out of the woods. It wasn't long before my phone was ringing and I quickly answered it, thinking it to be Optimus.

"Where the frag are you?!" Akila yelled over the phone. "I called Optimus to say that Ironhide and I are coming home tomorrow, and he says you just ran off to the woods?" she yelled.

"Yeah, yeah," I assured her, "I'm on the way back now, don't worry." At that, I hung up on her. I wasn't ready to talk to anyone right now besides Optimus.

So I walked along until I finally reached the outskirts of the woods and texted Optimus saying 'Please come get me'. It was bright outside, which meant that it was probably only noon. Within five minutes, Optimus drove up along the road and I got into the passenger seat. His holoform didn't even look at me, but just stared at the road with pursed lips.

"I'm sorry," I admitted. "I was stupid and only thinking about myself. I know you have a lot on your plate and I'm just adding stuff on to it. I'm a terrible girlfriend, a terrible friend, and most of all a terrible Prime."

Optimus's holoform turned to me and he furrowed his brow. "Why would you think that?" he asked.

"I have been just thinking of myself and how hurt I'm going to be when you leave. But I never stopped to think that you're going to hurt too and that this is a hard decision for you. As a friend, I'm supposed to support you and as a Prime, I'm supposed to make the best decisions for the Cybertronians . How I've been acting… Well, it's not right," I explained.

Optimus leaned over and cupped my face in his hand. "I want you to stop worrying," he told me. "Someone once said 'Everything will be alright in the end. If it's not alright, then it's not the end.' I will make sure everything is alright."

Optimus began driving back to the house and he played soft music. "Well what are we going to do now?" I asked.

"I have a little surprise for you," Optimus said. We drove back to the house and I could see that Knockout was gone, probably off getting a paint job or something. Optimus drove in and we walked inside the house.

Sitting in the kitchen was a man about 19 or 20 years old with buzz cut blond hair and a stubble of a beard. He wore a black shirt and khaki pants.

"Who is this?" I asked Optimus.

"Aw come on," the guy said. "You don't recognize me?"

"No way, Bee?" I exclaimed. He stood up and I ran and tackle hugged him. "You're so different! What did you do?"

"I figured it was time for an upgrade on my holoform," he explained. "Sam and Michaela went to go visit Sam's parents, so I figured it would be a good time to spend with you."

Optimus left the room to do who knows what, which left Bumblebee and I alone to chat. "Well what have you been up to? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" I told him.

Bee said, "Nothing much really! Things are kind of boring at Sam's house, besides the fact that I get to play with Ben a lot. What about you?"

I sighed. "It's been rough, Bee. It really has," I admitted.

"Yeah, Optimus told me. I'm sorry you're depressed about the possibility of us leaving, but you do know I'll always watch out for you, right?" he asked.

"Well yeah it's just… It's just not going to be the same."

"Hey!" Bumblebee yelled. "I promised you I'd watch over you, and I'm not about to break that promise anytime soon, you got it? You're stuck with me!"

You're stuck with me. My heart told me that that was true, but my brail seemed to disbelieve it…. Why was I still thinking of this? Bumblebee was here and that's all I needed to care about. Why couldn't I stop thinking about what was going on?


	6. They Don't Care Anymore

_Well everyone, I am so sorry for the six month update... again. It's summer and I plan to update more soon. I was busy with school ending, winter guard, and my first boyfriend so I didn't really have the will to write. I've also been focused on newspaper, since I am now the assistant editor (Which is pretty much the editor-in-training for juniors)! So yeah. Thanks to Elven Silver Power Ranger for pretty much reminding me about this story and how many people like it! So yeah. I promise I'll update soon! _

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><p>When I woke up, it was actually a pretty beautiful day. The sun was bright in the sky and the crisp fall leaves fell from the trees. I stretched up and swung my legs around the bed, looking around for the morning welcoming crew. Usually Optimus or Bee would come and wake me up, but I didn't see anyone. That is, until I saw a familiar red head leaning against the wall in the corner of my room.<p>

"Knockout…" I muttered.

"Well good morning, Prime," he said, getting up from the wall and stepping into the sunlight, which set his hair aflame. I leaned back and narrowed my eyes at him. He came over to me and leaned over, putting a hand on each side of me, putting his face very, very close to mine. I could smell the artificial breath, which wasn't minty like Optimus or Bee, but was a spicy cinnamon. "Got some fun news to share," he said.

It took me a moment to overcome my fluster, but I finally said, "Wait, what news?"

"I'll just wait for your boyfriend to tell you," he whispered in my ear. Then he stood up, turned around, and began to walk to the door. In my state, I didn't realize that Bumblebee was standing right by the door. Knockout walked by him, patted his shoulder, and walked away. Bee just started at him, then back at me with his mouth gaped open in shock. I guess he saw the whole exchange, even the part where I became a little fangirl over Knockout

"Uh… Akila and Ironhide should be here in three hours," he said, and just slowly left the room. I changed out of my pajamas and went downstairs where there was no sight of Optimus, but Bee was sitting on the couch.

"Where's Optimus?" I asked him.

"He's in a meeting with Will and General McArthur," he explained.

"And why was I not invited?"

"Optimus didn't want to wake you up."

Are you kidding me? He didn't want to wake me up? If he was in a meeting with two top-ranked military generals, it had to have been important. And here I am, a PRIME, and I still get told nothing. Come on now. Hell, I ranked above Ratchet for Pete's sake! And here I am kept out of everything. It made me feel so… helpless. And you know what I do when I feel that way?

I quickly ran upstairs and changed into shorts and a sports bra. After pulling my hair up to a ponytail, I made my way to the exercise room. I had started working out after I became a Prime and, I must say, I started to gain a bit of muscle. After fifty perfect push-ups and 5 sets of pyramid style jumping jacks, I hit the treadmill to just run off my anger. After a while, I took a shower and joined Bumblebee to wait for Akila and Ironhide to return. After about thirty minutes, the door finally opened and we heard a "Hello! We're home!"

I jumped up and gave Akila a huge hug, along with Ironhide. "Oh Brooke, we need to go camping some time. It was amazing! I got to fish and swim in the ocean… And we had a little fire on the beach and roasted marshmallows. It was so much fun," she told me after the hug.

"Sounds like it!" I said.

She then took a more serious face and said, "Alright missy, we need to go talk, just you and me." She looked at Bumblebee and Ironhide, who took the hint.

"Don't miss me," Ironhide said with a wink. He started to leave before slowly sliding his hand down to rub Akila's butt. The minute I saw that, my eyes widened and I fell onto the couch. I quickly buried my head into the closest pillow I could find, trying to burn that image and several others I imagined out of my head.

"Oh calm down," Akila said, sitting on the adjacent couch. "So what's going on?"

I sat up and crossed my legs into Indian style. "Well, ya know, the Autobots are just trying to find another planet to live on," I explained. "Ya know, living in different states sucks. Different countries, that's hard too. But different planets?! That's impossible, Akila!"

She chucked and said, "Yeah, well three years ago, you thought alien robots were impossible too!" I didn't laugh and she sighed. "Yeah Brooke, I understand this is gonna be hard. But this is what's best for the Autobots. They need a place to repopulate. Female Autobots are beginning to show up. It's time for them. They can't stay on Earth forever." I just stared down at the floor and Akila moved to sit next to me. She wrapped her arm around me and messed up my hair. "Hey, don't worry. We'll always have each other. And if Optimus is half the 'bot I know he is, he'll make sure he can see you. And if you're half the strong woman I know you to be, I know you'll be a great Prime."

I smiled at her. Akila always knew what to say. But before I could respond, Optimus, Will, and McArthur came down the stairs. McArthur gave a nod to me then walked out of the house and Optimus and Will stood in the room. They called everyone down and soon the living room was filled with Akila, Ironhide, Knockout, Soundwave, Bumblebee, and me.

"Well, firstly, welcome back Akila and Ironhide," Optimus started, trying to be, well, optimistic. But by the look on Will's face, it couldn't have been good. "It's a real-"

"What's wrong," I interrupted. Everyone looked at me but I just glowered at Optimus, still mad because he didn't invite me to the meeting.

"N.E.S.T. submitted a request to build a new Autobot base," Will began, "But it appears as though the government has decided to pull funding for the Autobots."

"So, basically, they don't care anymore," Ironhide said with a scowl. Akila rubbed his hand slowly.

Optimus nodded. "It appears so. With the Decepticons not posing a threat to humans anymore, they have cut all funding. We are to pose as normal human vehicles. Ratchet and myself, however, have access to a space facility to find a new planet to inhabit. However, they have only granted us a year," he explained.

"So," Will added, "if you guys don't find a planet within a year, you are to pose as human vehicles forever. And any Autobot who tried to find sanctuary on Earth will be denied access."

Knockout scoffed. "Well," he said, "if you really want, I'm sure Soundwave and I would be glad to knock out a few buildings. Just to convince them that the Decepticons aren't really gone."

"Shut up," I said without thinking. Then I looked up at Will and asked "Well what about this house? Will we get to keep that?"

"Sadly, no. You will have to leave in a week," he said.

"Fine then," I said, and went to my room. I opened my laptop and got into NASA's file of all planets on record. Then I began to list out various planets that would be habitable for Cybertronians and ones that would be habitable for humans. Before I knew it, there was a knock at my door.

Optimus came in and sat on my bed. "Can we talk?" he asked. I turned my desk chair and looked at him.

"Talk about what?" I asked. "About how you didn't tell me about the meeting? About how there are only about 54 planets that could sustain human life and over 400 that can sustain Cybertronian life? And only about 5 planets can support both? All of which are super far away? And I'm supposed to support you! And the rest of the Cybertronians!"

Optimus came over and picked me up and sat me on his lap. "Brooke. You are overthinking this. It will all be fine, I promise."

And in that moment, Optimus's promise was about the only think I could ride on for hope.


	7. All My Heart

_A large rocket sat poised to the heavens. It was fueled and ready to fly. There was not a single cloud in the sky and the smell of a journey was in the air._

_Optimus stood and observed as other Autobots boarded the ship. Ironhide stood with Akila in his palm as she hugged his finger. "I'll miss you," she said._

"_I'll love you always," Ironhide replied._

_I stood with my arms folded in an oversized hoodie. Bumblebee looked out at me as he was boarding the ship. He clicked a few sad clicks and went in. Optimus then walked to me and lowered down to he was face-to-face with me, though his face was a lot larger than my whole body._

"_I will miss you, Brooke," he said. I looked up at him and fought back tears. I reached my hand out and slowly caressed the smooth metal on his face._

"_I'll miss you too," I said. With that, Optimus stood up and boarded the ship. _

_The thrusters ignited and the ship shot into the air. Tears began to flow as the distance between me and the Autobots increased. They were leaving. For good. The ship began to shake. One of the thrusters caught on fire. My screams were drowned out as the entire ship caught on fire. It wasn't long before it completely blew up. The lights from the explosion expanded and then imploded into darkness. I fell and screamed but it didn't help._

"_You've failed us…" Was that… the primes? _

"_You are a failure of a prime."_

"_Why did we choose a human to be a prime? She cares of nothing but herself."_

_No. No. Those words hurt and stung like spears. I failed them. I failed the Primes. I failed Optimus. I failed._

"Ahh!" I screamed and jumped up in the bed. My heart raced and I looked around the room. The clock read 2:43 in the morning.

"Are you okay?" Optimus appeared beside my bed and sat on the edge. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"It was… It was just a bad dream," I told him, still trying to comprehend all I saw.

"What was in it?"

I went through my mind, trying to figure it all out. "The Autobots… They were leaving Earth… And then the ship blew up… Then all I could hear was the Primes saying that I failed them…"

Optimus scooted into my bed and pulled the covers over him. His feet tangled in mine and he put his hand on the side of my face. His skin was cool and helped to cool down my sweating body. "You understand why you are having these bad dreams, are you not?" he asked.

My mind was racing and I just couldn't think. I shook my head no and Optimus moved his eyes to the floor. "It is because you are bonded with Megatron…," he said. He seemed very hurt by it. Memories of Megatron's hot metal holding me flashed back and I cringed.

"How do I stop it?" I asked him.

"When Cybertronians bond, the bond lasts forever. However, since you and Megatron did not fully bond, perhaps a full bond could mask the effects of the other," he explained. I looked at him and asked what exactly a full bond entitled. He explained, "A full bond is when the sparks of both partners become temporarily one. It is essentially as if they are one person. Megatron did not realize that with the power of the Matrix, you do have a spark, as small as it is. He just tried to bond your body and it only had a small effect."

I looked at him and his blue eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. "So," I said, "I need to fully bond with someone." Optimus nodded. "I want it to be you. I can't deal with these nightmares. Optimus, will you spark merge with me?" With that he lifted me up and slowly brought me out of my room and to the backyard where his true form waited. I stood up and his holoform disappeared.

"How do I do this, Optimus?" I asked him. He lifted me up and his chassis opened to reveal his spark. When I saw it, I felt warmth in my chest. Was that my spark? A figurative spark?

"There is no going back, Brooke. Are you sure about this?" I knew he was being extra careful since last time something like this happened, it was against my will.

"I want my connection to him to go away. And this is the only way," I assured him.

To bring me closer, Optimus had to wrap his fingers around me. At first it made me a little anxious but I adjusted so he didn't have to worry. He moved me closer until finally the warmth enveloped my entire body. Optimus' spark had a glow to it and it moved closer to me. The experience was amazing. It was like… suddenly my body was not just my own. It was his. And his was mine. It was like he was an extension of me. It was a much different experience than with Megatron. With Megatron, there was a bond but it didn't feel real. With Optimus… It was real. My natural instinct was to protect him from everything. I wanted nothing but for him to be happy. He was my everything. Optimus could feel the same things I was feeling; I could tell.

Finally the bond was made and our sparks separated. Though we were apart, I could still feel him as if he were right next to me. I was connected to him just like Megatron, except even more. It was a love connection. After all of that, I started to fall asleep, exhausted. Optimus saw, smiled sheepishly, and carried me back to my room via his holoform. He dropped me off in my bed and cuddled up next to me.

"I love you," he said.

And with all my heart, I replied, "I love you too."

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><p><em>Hello everyone! I apologize for the six month wait... again... I'm sorry. I hope this makes up for it. In these past six months I have been through being an editor of my school's paper and having my first boyfriendbreakup.. But now with that experience I hope I can write these romance scenes a bit better since I've been through those sort of things now. Anyway it's Christmas break and I plan to have two more chapters out this week and hopefully three more before New Years. I promise I will finish this story! It is my resolution to actually finish something!_


	8. Found

When I woke up the next morning, the sun was just beginning to rise and Optimus' holoform was still asleep next to me. I looked at the clock next to me and it read 7:30. Why was I up so early? I usually woke up at around 9, at the earliest. Now here I am, awake before Optimus? Crazy.

I leaned over and ran my finger down Optimus' jaw line. He was so cute when he was sleeping. His mouth slightly hung open and his chest slowly rose and fell. His blue hair had grown out lately and stubble started to grow. He's been so stressed lately.

There was a mumble and Optimus woke up. He saw me and gave me a half smile. "Good morning, Brooke," he said, pulling me to lie on his chest. He put his hand behind my head and into my hair.

"Well good morning to you too!" I said back. I leaned forward and gently kissed him.

"I have a lot to do today," Optimus said. "I have to find a place for us to stay, check on the wreckers, talk with officials-"

"We," I said. Optimus looked at me and cocked his head. "We have a lot to do. I'm stepping up, Optimus. I'm a Prime, a leader. I'm going to start acting like it."

Optimus smiled. "I knew I kept you around for something," he said with a wink. I playfully punched his chest and he laughed.

There was a knock on the door and Optimus' eyes hardened. "Optimus, there's someone here for you," Knockout called from the other side.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"Leadfoot," Knockout answered. Optimus jumped up as soon as I rolled off of him. His holoform disappeared then reappeared in his normal clothes.

"Uhm, hey!" I yelled. I wasn't fast enough apparently because he was already out the door. Knockout stared at where he left then looked in the room with a chuckle. I looked down and saw that the straps of my tank top had fallen down and it looked as if I wasn't wearing a shirt. "Get out! Shut the door!" I yelled and Knockout, with a chuckle, did just that.

What would Leadfoot want? I quickly grabbed a jacket and ran downstairs.

"Aye, that we did," Leadfoot said, speaking to Optimus.

"This is fantastic. Perfect," Optimus proclaimed. He saw me coming down the stairs and he picked me up and spun me around. "They found it!"

"Found what?" I asked, still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"A new Cybertron," Leadfoot explained. "We knicked our arses all night trying to find it, but we did. KOI-1686.01. All we 'ave ter do is go explawer i' an' gain da rights ter it, an' we're golden.!"

I was in a daze. "You… You found it?" I asked.

"I'm going to start planning meetings with the International Space Agency to gain rights for us to start a settlement," Optimus said to us.

Leadfoot smiled at this prospect and said, "The _Xantium_ is ready to go, Optimus."

Knockout, who had come to the meeting area without me knowing, was even smiling. "A place where we don't have to hide anymore, I like that," he said.

This was all so sudden! They all seemed so happy and glad to leave. They gave us a year! A year to find a planet! And bam! It hasn't been a week yet and they already found another planet to live on? And a day after Optimus and I bond?

"Oh, I forgot ter tell yew da best part. This planet is da closest ter Earf what 'as been found! It all works out!" Leadfoot told me.

Okay. Okay that's good. It's close to Earth. Doesn't mean it's completely habitable but it's possible.

Optimus turned to me and cocked his head. "Is everything alright?" he asked.

I perked up for his sake. "Yeah! This is great! How long till the first meeting?" I lied. Optimus smiled at me. It was a smile I hadn't seen since I returned from the moon. It was very cute.

The next couple days were a blur as the Autobots were informed of New Cybertron. They all seemed excited, and many were even excited that it had a chance to support humans. Optimus loved the idea of a planet with humans and Cybertronians. Now that the Decepticons were mostly gone, it would be safer for humans.

Finally the day arrived to meet with the leaders of the top-secret International Space Agency. The morning was bright and dry. At least that's what it looked like when I woke up with the sun, like I always did since Optimus and I bonded. He was always still asleep when I woke up which was great. The leaves began to fall off the trees, signaling the arrival of fall. It was time for cute business outfit today.

I started to lean over and wake Optimus but as soon as I moved my stomach turned upside down. I quickly jumped out of my bed and ran to the bathroom. I puked and my hair started to fall before I saw a hand grab it. Optimus held my hair back and rubbed my back as I puked. When I was done, I grabbed the closest wash cloth and wiped my face.

"Are you okay, Brooke?" he asked.

I nodded. "I'm sorry. I'm just really nervous about today. It's make it or break it time," I told him.

Optimus smiled and tugged at one of my curls. "Come on, we have some officials to schmooze," he said. His holoform disappeared and reappeared in his blue military suit. The medals he had won for service sat near my dresser.

"When's the last time you transformed to your true form?" I asked him.

Optimus shrugged. "I can't remember. It's been months. I mostly use my human holoform for things. I can't exactly sleep in your bed in my true form, now can I?" he asked.

It made me upset he hadn't been his true form in a while. Maybe it was even time for an upgrade from his Peterbilt self. In fact… Maybe I could help with that.

I left the bathroom and went to get ready. I had my outfit picked out for weeks: a teal top with a black belt going across it and a black skirt. I even wore heels! When I was done dressing, Optimus had already left and went downstairs. I also went down to the dining room where 4 folders with various documents in it. Optimus was waiting and talking to Will who apparently came earlier. When they saw me, they both smiled. It wasn't often that I dressed up. But I was almost 18 years old and looked a lot more sophisticated.

"You look great," Optimus said. I smiled and gave a little twirl. "The president and vice president should be here soon."

With that, the doorbell rung and Optimus went to the front to answer it. I leaned over to Will. "Hey could you do me a favor?" I asked him. He smiled and nodded. "I think it's time for an upgrade for the Autobots. If I send you a list of the vehicles I need, could you get them? Like a little surprise?"

Will nodded. "That sounds like a great idea," he said. "Just let me know!"

Optimus then walked into the room with two men. The first was in his 50s with gray hair and glasses. The second was in his forties and completely bald.

"President Ackerman, vice president Balandin, this is Colonel William Lennox and Commander Brooke Walters," he introduced. Will and I smiled and nodded at them. They took a seat and opened the folders. Inside were details of the Autobots time on Earth, profiles on every Autobot, and a profile of KOI-1686.01.

"Now tell us what you plan for this 'New Cybertron'," Ackerman asked.

"We plan for it to be a whole new home for all Cybertronians, especially those still looking for a home since the destruction of Cybertron," I told them.

"However since we want to thank the human species for their generosity during our time of need, we plan to extend our invitation to humans once civilization has been established," Optimus continued.

"The main city," Will added, "will be named Cybertropolis. It will be the capital. The first human city will be called Washington in honor of the United States and their support for the Autobot cause."

Ackerman smiled and leaned back. "I'm liking this plan. I know the government has granted you only a year to find a new home, and this generosity you give toward us is outstanding," he said.

"However," Baladin interjected in a Russian accent. "I 'ave been keeping up vith your… adventures. I must ask about your human relations. You 'ave vone of your members married to a human. And it is no secret that you two are in a relationship. Also this Sam Vitvicky I hear about has a close connection. If this planet is not found to be habitable for humans, vhat shall you do?"

He had a point. I was speechless. What would he do?

"We will continue to look for others until we find one habitable. We wish to give something back to the humans for endangering their planet. If, after the year is up, we cannot find a family that humans can live on, all we ask is for the semi-permanent residence of Ironhide, who is married to a human, and visitation rights for only a few Cybertronians at a time," Optimus answered.

"Granted," Ackerman said. I smiled.

"Does that mean…?" I asked.

"Yes," Ackerman said with a smile. "As the President of the International Space Agency, I grant the Cybertronians permission to establish KOI-1686.01 as a new home world. I will talk to my associates in Houston and Moscow. We can have you in space within the next month."

"Thank you so much, sir," Optimus said, standing up and shaking their hands. We started to leave the room and Will and I shook hands with them. When I shook Baladin's hand, he pulled me in to a side hug.

"I hope zis all vorks out. For your sake," he whispered, and pulled away. When he said that, my nausea came back.

As soon as they left the house, Optimus turned to me and kissed me so hard I almost got knocked over if it wasn't for him holding me. When we separated I just saw Optimus smile and he was so happy. He was smiling so much lately.

"I'm going to tell Bee and Sam," Will told us.

"I'll tell everyone else" Optimus said. We all went our separate ways and I went upstairs to do a little car shopping. After looking I started an email to Will. "This is what I need you to get," I typed.

* * *

><p><em>Sorry for the quickness of how this story was going but I really just wanted to get to the action started. Stuff it beginning. If you can't feel it, start to. Upgrades are in the making, planets are being occupied, and now everything is starting. Be ready because here we go! Plot twists coming!<em>


	9. Normal!

Nothing is a better feeling than being surrounded by expensive cars. And I mean, really expensive cars. I sent Will a list of upgraded forms for all of the Autobots and he made sure it was done. We had to return the vehicles after they copied them, of course, given that some weren't even released to the public yet.

For Optimus, it was a Western Star 4900 semi-trailer truck, painted with Optimus' usual red flames. For Bumblebee, a yellow 2014 Chevrolet Camaro concept car with a black stripe down the middle. For Knockout, a red Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, and for Ratchet a green Hummer HX. Ironhide got a black 2014 Silverado and Arcee got a blue Kawasaki Ninja 1000. Skids and Mudflap got a green and orange 2014 Smart Fortwo, respectively. I got Mirage a 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari and Sunny and Sides got yellow and red 2015 Z06 Corvettes respectively. Will also was able to get a 2014 Global XRS 6000 for Soundwave.

"So where is everyone?" Will asked as he looked around at the empty house.

"I sent Optimus, Knockout, and Soundwave to go investigate this supposed Energon source I found. It was all completely a lie but whatever. Everyone else should be arriving soon," I explained.

"Just be careful with em," Will said. "The government pulled some strings but we still need to return them in great condition."

The cars were all just so beautiful. And it wasn't long that I heard the sound of a car engine. Bumblebee rolled in with Sam, Michaela, and Ben. They got out of Bee and he transformed. "Whoa! So shiny!" Ben exclaimed, pointing at the cars from Michaela's arms.

"What is this?" Bumblebee asked.

Will smiled. "Brooke here pulled some strings, with my help of course, and got you all new alt forms," he explained.

Bumblebee ran up to his new Camaro form and copied it. When he went back to his true form, he looked more sleek and shiny. One by one, all of the Autobots came and tried on their new alt forms. They were all very grateful and all looked completely different. Even their true forms looked more sleek and new.

Finally, Knockout drove up the driveway and Soundwave landed on the landing bay in the back of the house. They both transformed and walked to the group.

"Where in the world did you say you sensed those energon sources?" Knockout asked, putting his hands on his hips. "We searched for _hours_. And we wouldn't have kept going if your boyfriend wasn't so damn persistent."

It was then that finally Optimus rolled into the driveway. He transformed and seemed to stretch out when he did, probably from not being able to transform in so long. "What is all this?" he asked.

"Will and I got all of you guys new alt forms! You know, for when you go up to the new planet and all," I explained.

Optimus walked over to where his custom truck was and tapped the hood. He then copied the truck and transformed back to his robot form. Now he had 3 exhaust pipes instead of one on his back and his red seemed more prominent than the blue. "Thank you for this," Optimus said to Will and me. "This comes at a convenient time, seeing as that I have an announcement. The _Xantium_ is ready to launch. I have spoken to the nation's army and the take-off is scheduled for tomorrow at 2 pm local time. We must leave tonight to travel to Houston."

Whoa. Way to crush the mood there, Optimus. "Who is coming on this mission?" Ironhide asked.

"We need everyone we can," he explained. "Ironhide, you and Mirage will stay on Earth to protect Akila, Brooke, Sam, Michaela, and Ben. Everyone else will join us to go explore the planet. Some will return later to confirm our findings and regroup. Others will stay and begin to build. This is going to be a long mission. It may be months, even years before the planet can be ready for mankind to join us. However the plan remains. Everyone meet back here by 8 pm tonight and we shall embark."

Ooooh way to crush it even more. Everyone agreed, transformed, and left to say goodbye to their humans. Soundwave transformed into his jet form and went for a flight. He probably was going to Houston early. He never really went with the group. Optimus turned to me.

"Well, great party huh," I muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"Well I mean we were all so happy and then 'Oh hey guys guess what we're leaving tonight kay-thanks'," I joked.

"I do not understand, I did not-" he began, but I cut him off.

"It's fine Optimus. So, you're really leaving? And you may be gone… for years?"

"It is a worst-case scenario, Brooke. I will send updates of our progress constantly. Ratchet has developed a fine communications system that should work. If the planet is human habitable, I will come back as soon as I can," he said.

"Yeah yeah, I understand. I'm going to go pack my stuff so we can go," I said, walking towards the front door.

"Brooke, wait."

"What?"

"You're… You're not coming to the launch," he said. I stopped in my tracks and turned to him.

"I'm not _what_," I said with anger laced in my voice.

"Aaaand I'll take that as my cue to leave!" Knockout said as he transformed and drove off. Optimus transformed and made his holoform appear in front of me.

"What the _hell_ do you mean I'm not going?" I demanded.

He sighed. "I have spoken with your mother to let her know the date in which we were leaving. She is enrolling you back to school. And the school year starts tomorrow," he said.

"So you're not letting me go to the launch," I asked, "because it's a _school night_?" You've got to be kidding me.

"We are leaving Brooke, and you have one year left of high school. Your home studies have made up for last year, but this year you will need to attend school. Since we are leaving, I wish for you to attain as normal of a human life as possible," he explained.

"Normal?! What do I know about normal? I have freaking electricity at the power of my hands!" With that I allowed a few sparks to flare from my hands. They were larger than I expected since I was so angry. "I'm a commander of a top secret sect of the military! I'm a leader of an alien race! How am I normal by any means?!"

"Brooke, please," Optimus said. "You know what I mean. The past year has been one of war and anguish for you. You have seen things you should have never seen. I want you safe. You're my sparkmate; I would never want you in any danger."

"So basically you're saying you wished you'd never met me, is that it? Because you put me in danger? I'm not that seven-year-old girl in Egypt anymore. I'm not girl who was helplessly being kidnapped by Megatron. I'm a _Prime_ Optimus and I need to act like one. I should spend my days monitoring space frequencies to find other Autobots or refining my electric powers. Not doing calculus!"

"You twist my words," Optimus said. "I am so glad I have met you Brooke. But I don't know what this planet is going to be like. And if it is not habitable for humans or something happens… I want you to be able to lead a normal life."

I moved and sat down on the steps. "Whatever," I mumbled in a very teenager-like way. "If something happens I hope you remember that you left your sparkmate alone when I could have been with you."

Optimus came and sat next to me. "I'm going to make sure you are taken care of, Brooke. No matter what," he said and kissed my temples. "Your mother is currently at your new home about twenty minutes from here. I will take you."

"Great, good to know," I said, and went upstairs to pack my things. I threw everything in my army print duffel bags and checked around to make sure I had it all. It was funny how all of my stuff fit into 3 bags- 2 for clothes and 1 for personal items. Personal items including framed pictures of me and the Autobots. I left my room after checking it 3 times and went around the house for things. The house was completely void of any personal items; it looked like some house that was for sale. Which, it probably was after today. Optimus was waiting in the kitchen for me. I walked there and dumped my bags, not even making eye contact with him.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah," I muttered. He grabbed two of my bags and we went outside to his new alt form. My bags were thrown in the back to the cot and I got in the passenger side. Optimus lightly played country music which I really didn't like, but the tension covered the sound of that. Goodbye, big house. Last time I'll be seeing that.

"Brooke, please don't do this to me," he said to me, trying to reach over and hold my hand. I let him hold it but I just wasn't feeling into it. I was still mad at him. And the knot in my stomach didn't help my mood.

"I don't even know, Optimus," I said. "I can't believe you're making me stay home. I'm so feeling the love here."

"I do love you, Brooke," he said. "Will you please just trust my judgment on this?"

"Fine," I muttered. "I'm just gonna miss you."

"And I, you. But I swear I will be back soon. I swear."

The rest of the drive to my new home was silent. Optimus would occasionally rub my hand with his thumb but that was about it. Finally we got to the house and it was a beige colored two-story with plenty of arches. It was in the middle of a well-populated neighborhood, with plenty of active families outside taking evening walks. Optimus pulled into the driveway (generating a few looks from these suburban civilians) and turned off his engine.

"It's almost time for the meet up," Optimus said, glancing at the clock. It was 7:22.

"Please be safe," I said, taking his one hand in both of mine and looking up into his bright blue eyes.

"You'll know if anything happens to me," he said, taking a strand of hair into his hand. "We are bonded. If any of us feel pain, the other will know it. And I will stay completely safe."

"Don't sacrifice yourself, promise me," I said.

"Brooke, the needs of the many-"

"Don't you dare say 'outweigh the needs of the few'," I growled.

"I'll be safe, I promise," he said. That didn't exactly promise the same thing I asked him to promise, but whatever.

"Goodbye, Optimus," I said. Optimus leaned in and kissed me, almost never letting me go. I took everything in and captured the moment in my head. But finally we pulled apart, I grabbed my bags, and exited the truck.

"Goodbye, my beloved."

And with that, Optimus pulled out of the driveway. I watched him turn the corner and leave for what could even be forever.

* * *

><p><em>I quite like this chapter really. Everything is about to start up. Be ready, because here it comes! I will so be doing duel point of views, one in first person via Brooke's narration and the other in the third person of the Autobots and their trip to the new planet. Review, review, review!<em>


	10. Eh I Made Friends

For the first time in forever, I woke up alone. My first day of a 'normal' life started at 5 am, with a shower. My mom went shopping for me and got me a new outfit: a black and white striped shirt, skinny jeans, and tan boots. I pulled my hair up into a pony tail and grabbed by black book bag.

My mom was already awake and cooked me a large breakfast of pancakes and bacon. I know she loved to have me back but she knew how upset I was. I barely mumbled a word all morning. Finally I got in my mom's 2013 Jaguar XF. It felt weird being in a car that wasn't living. Usually I would get in and they could detect my body temperature and make it hot or cold for me. And the seats were almost more comfy. I even forgot to buckle my seatbelt because usually someone did it for me.

Then my phone dinged. "Good morning." It was Bumblebee. It was then that it hit me how I didn't get to say goodbye to any of the other Autobots because I assumed I would get to do it at the launch.

"Morning, Bee. Sorry I couldn't come; Optimus grounded me," I texted back.

"Who is it, dear?" mom asked.

"Bumblebee."

"Will you two be able to text when they're on their trip?" She said that as if they were just off to the beach for a week.

"This isn't just a _trip_, mom. It's a journey. To another planet. It's 1,000 light years away. Plus they need to survey and start building. Optimus said he would be in contact with me, but I'm not entirely sure if it's like a text thing or an email thing," I said.

My phone dinged again. "I heard," it read. "Don't worry though. Ratchet put a program on your computer so we can communicate." Well that explains it. Right as I read it, we were pulling up to the school.

"Gotta get to school. Bleh. Text you later," I typed and sent. My mom pulled up to the front entrance and I got out of the car.

I had to head to the counselling office to pick of my schedule and a map. Part of me wishes I could have gone to the same school that I went to last year before I dropped out for other matters. But no. This school was new and completely different than the other. People were all getting back together and I just breezed past them to the office. The lady in the office was older with dark skin and short hair.

"Hello dear! How may I help you?" she asked with a big smile.

"Hi, I'm, uh, Brooke Walters. I came to get my schedule," I told her. She pulled out a file folder and searched through it till she pulled out a yellow slip of paper and handed it to me. I looked at all my classes. Astronomy, AP Political Sciences, British Literature, AP Computer Sciences, Calculus, and a shop class. All seemed to fit me pretty well. I thanked the women and went off to find my first class: Astronomy.

I walked in and the Astronomy teacher was a large middle aged man. I was the first one in the classroom since everyone else was catching up with friends and such. Finally the people started flowing in and taking seats, mostly away from me in the back. Finally a Mexican girl with long black hair came and sat next to me.

"Hey," she said. "Are you new here?"

"Yeah, I am. Just moved here actually," I told her.

"Oh cool! I'm Katheryn Martinez. Been in this same school system since kindergarten. So are you really into astronomy?" she asked. Ugh; small talk.

"Yeah, I am. I'm more interested in politics."

The class bell ring and Katheryn turn to the teacher. "Alright class welcome to Astronomy! So today we're just going to do a class meet-and-greet. Everyone is going to stand up and say three things about themselves: their name, their intended major for college or a job profession they want to go in, and a random fact about themselves. Okay I'm going to go down the list of names!" he said.

He went down a list and everyone stood up and said their facts. I was thinking about what my random fact was going to be. 'Hey guys I'm the leader of an alien race!' No, that wouldn't do.

"Brooke Walters?" he called.

I stood up and everyone turn their heads to me. "Uhm, hi, I'm Brooke Walters. I want to be involved in politics in the future. And… and I've lived in every single continent at one point or another," I said. That was good, considering many mouths dropped at my statement. Even the teacher. I sat down and some people just watched me. Three others went after me and finally the class bell rang.

"Hey, what lunch do you have?" Katheryn asked. I looked at my schedule.

"Fifth period."

"Oh same as me! I'll keep an eye out for you so you have a place to sit," she said, and left the class. Oh way to go Brooke, making friends already. I grabbed my things to leave when this lanky brunette boy with glasses came up to me.

"How many place have you lived?!" he asked me.

I was a little shocked by this guy. "Oh a lot of places… Japan, England, Iceland, Brazil… My parents were travel writers at the time. Now my mom has settled down and my dad still travels," I told him.

"That's amazing!" he exclaimed. "I'm Landon, Landon Barnatt. I'd love to hear about your travels sometime."

"Oh, oh of course!" I said, and told him the neighborhood I lived in.

"Wait, hold up, you live in the same neighborhood as me. Are you that same girl my mom saw getting out of a big semi when she was out last night taking a walk?" he asked.

I blushed. "Uh, yeah, that was me," I told him.

"Well okay then! I better get to my next class. See you later?" he asked. I smiled and nodded at him. Well okay! I'm just so social today!

Political science, computer science, and British lit were all almost exactly the same; all we did was talk about ourselves and do a meet and greet. I basically said the same thing over and over. I had British lit with Katheryn so at least I had an acquaintance. I went to lunch and Katheryn sat me with her three friends John, Alexis, and Wayne. We talked a bit but before I knew it we had to go to our next class. Calculus was a bore and shop class was similar to the others, except we had to answer the question of 'what is our favorite car'. It was about 1:30 when I texted Optimus.

"Good luck today. I love you. Send me updates as soon as you can," I texted him.

"I promise I will. Thank you for contacting me. I love you," he texted back, almost immediately.

"Brooke Walters?" I quickly looked up from my phone to the teacher. I gave my blurb and stuff and, of course, my answer to my favorite car was a Western Star 4900 semi-trailer truck, complete with a custom paint job. The idea of it made the boys drool.

At 2:10, when the school bell rang, I raced outside and jumped into my mom's waiting car. "How was school dear?" she asked.

"Good, good now let's go!" I yelled. I wanted to get back on my laptop so I could see messages from Optimus. My mom chuckled and sped out of the school. It wasn't long before we were back at the house. I dropped my bag as soon as I got in the door and ran upstairs to my room. When I opened my laptop, there was a new shortcut called 'Communications'. I clicked it and up popped the names of all Autobots. Next to Optimus' name, there was a '(1)'. I clicked on it and there was a message.

_We have arrived safely out of Earth's atmosphere. The Wreckers determine ETA in four months Earth time. Materials have been stored into the ship along with disabled drones to help with building. All are accounted for. _

Same old Optimus. Always so serious. Then another message dinged up. _How was school?_ it read. I wonder if this communications system had like a read receipt, like on Facebook.

'Eh. I made friends. Go figure. How is everyone?' I asked.

_We are all fine. I miss you already, however. _

'Yeah, I know what you mean. It's like… It's like my whole body misses you.'

_That is an after effect of the spark bond. If we are too far apart, the sparks will yearn for each other. I have been feeling sick myself. It will not get better until I return. I am sorry._

I was starting to type when the doorbell rang. 'I gotta go Optimus. Making friends left and right! I'll talk to you later. I love you.'

_I love you._

With that I shut my laptop and went downstairs. Landon was at the door and smiled when I opened it. "Hey! How's it?" he asked. I invited him inside and he was amazed at all of the stuff. My mom decorated the house with relics from our travels and pictures of my family throughout the world. "This is so awesome! You've been _everywhere_!" he exclaimed. My mom must have heard him because she walked out of her office.

"Oh, Brooke, who is your friend?" she asked.

"Oh, mom, this is Landon. He lives in this neighborhood. I was showing him all the stuff from our travels," I told her.

"Oh well nice to meet you! I'm Ashley, Brooke's mother," she introduced, and then returned back to her office.

I was reminiscing when I heard the roar of a loud engine right outside the house. I didn't recognize that engine. "Landon, go duck behind the couch," I told him. He looked at me weird. "Just do it." So he finally did. I went and put my back to the hallway where the front door was. I had electricity building up in my hands but I made sure it was not visible for Landon's sake. The front door opened. Footsteps. They got closer and closer until a form was in front of me. I quickly jumped on its back and it fell over. There was a lot of squirming and fighting but I finally got the person over and I kneeled over it. I pulled my hand up, ready to attack, then I paused.

"Mirage?" I asked. Mirage gave a quick smirk.

"Well hello to you too," he said. I rolled my eyes and got off of him.

"Landon, sorry. My stupid cousin here decided to sneak up on me," I explained. Landon got up from under the couch and laughed.

"Geez, I get rough with my cousins too, but I wasn't expecting full-on military mode," he joked.

"Oh, uh, sorry," I said. Lie, lie, lie. "I lived in the middle east for a while. Didn't exactly help my paranoia." What a stupid lie! Even Mirage was snickering at that.

"Oh, makes sense," Landon said. Wow. Wooooooow. That actually worked!

The stunt didn't help my spark sickness and I had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom. I ran into the closest one and about puked my guts out. Ugh. Nausea.

I returned and showed Landon the rest of our collection. He was really impressed. He then left, promising to be back to visit soon.

"So, new boy already? Tsk, tsk," Mirage said as soon as Landon left.

"Shut up already," I growled. "He isn't a 'new boy'. He's a friend. I make friends. I can be friendly sometimes." Why the heck did Optimus leave _Mirage_ as my protector? It was like a cruel joke.

"I'm going to get ready for school tomorrow," I told Mirage, and went up to my room. Day one of normal life. Mission complete.

_Preview of next chapter…_

"No… How… How is this possible?" I asked. Ironhide looked grim and couldn't even speak. "Ironhide!"

"It's not possible…" he muttered. Akila was frozen and so was my mother. Not possible? How in the world was _this_ not possible?! "We need to tell Optimus. You need help."

"No!" I yelled. "We can't tell Optimus. Things are going to well on New Cybertron. He doesn't need to be distracted. We'll handle it. It shouldn't… It shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"There's-a no way for us to protect you from this," Mirage said. I couldn't believe it. I was flying solo on this one. And no matter what anyone did, they couldn't help. Not even Optimus could help at this point. It was a first. A complete first.

* * *

><p><em>I usually don't do previews, but I thought I'd tease you guys with this one ;) Next chapter is going to be big. And I've been feeling in a big writing mood so expect the next chapter within the next 2 days! Depending on how long I want to make it. Love you guys! Don't forget to review please!<em>

_Also everyone, I feel the need to make some corrections to some wrong facts I made earlier. In chapter 3 of 'What It Takes To Be a Hero', I said Optimus's human holoform had black hair. However he actually has blue hair. Also, in chapter 4, I said Brooke has black hair when she really has blond. I wanted to go back and re-upload the documents with corrections, however those chapters from about three years ago are not on my computer and for some reason I cannot highlight and copy-and-paste the chapters from FFN. So I want to make the corrections here. I apologize for the errors in continuity. _


	11. How Is This Possible?

Months went by and Optimus still continued to send me updates on their progress.

_We are halfway to the planet. Both pairs of twins have decided to start a prank war on the ship. I would stop them but it seems to put a little morale boost. Their pranks seem quite amusing, though they not dare use them on me. _

_We have arrived onto the planet. There is one large continent along with an ocean. I'm glad to report that the oxygen levels are at a safe level for humans. As soon as we start to build and progress is being made, I'm coming to get you._

_A few buildings have been built. The drones we brought have been a great help as the Autobots mostly serve as supervisors. We are building based on old Cybertronian buildings. It is coming along well._

_Our home has been built. It has many rooms; enough for us, your mother, Akila, and Ironhide. I am so excited for us to live here. New Cybertron is coming along great._

It's almost like I could hear the excitement in Optimus' voice; it was so cute. He was so happy that his home world was going to be back and that I was going to come. I fully expected to live on Cybertron, with me being a prime and all. Once humans came to Cybertron, I expected to be a liaison between humans and Cybertronians.

Katheryn and Landon became my best friends. They both knew each other so most of my weekends were spent with the two of them, going to movies and parks. I was also invited to some parties on the weekends, which were a lot of fun. Civilian life must have been taking a toll on me because I started to gain weight all over. The spark bond was also taking a toll on me because I felt like half of me was missing half of the time which caused a lot of nausea.

School was also going well because all of my classes interested me. My political teacher basically ignored me, which made me wish I could see his face when the announcement was eventually made that I was the leader of an alien race.

Speaking of alien race, I had two I was in charge of. I still treated Ironhide as my superior because he was older than me and he was my sister's husband. He was like an older brother, really. Mirage was a bit harder. The hopeless romantic was always leaving to go on dates, which makes me think that he had dated every girl in Arizona.

So it was April 15, eight months after the Autobots had left, and I was chilling on the couch, doing homework. The nausea hit me again and I ran to the bathroom. These spouts of nausea that resulted in puking were pretty normal for me, and I usually kept my hair in a ponytail.

"Brooke, it's been 8 months, how long are you going to be sick? Do we need to take you to a doctor?" my mom asked from her office.

"No, no, mom, I'm fine," I told her. She still didn't know that Optimus and I had bonded, and I didn't want to tell her any time soon. She was big on the 'no sex before marriage' thing and, though we didn't really have sex, we had like the Cybertronian version so I bet she'd still be pissed.

"Honestly, Brooke, if it's like a parasite or something, I'd rather it out! Let me take you to the doctor!" she yelled.

I sighed and rinsed my mouth out. "Mom, it's some sort of Cybertronian illness. I doubt it's human," I told her.

"Fine then, I'm having Ironhide scan you when he and Akila come over for dinner tonight," she said. Oh great. I'm sure Ironhide knows my mom doesn't know about our bond. Or Akila for that matter. Ironhide had to have known because he was Cybertronian and I bet they knew how to sense that or something.

I finished my homework and then texted my friends until Ironhide and Akila came over. They were living in a home not too far from my house. Akila started going to medical school and the two lived off of government money until the Autobots returned and we moved to New Cybertron.

"Hey you, stop being anti-social," Ironhide joked as he ruffled my hair.

"Hey!" I yelled. "I'm not being anti-social! I was waiting for you guys!"

"Sheesh, leave her alone!" Akila joked, nudging him. "Any update from Optimus?"

"They're just still building," I told them. "As usual. It shouldn't be too much longer."

We sat down for a dinner of meatloaf and mac and cheese. Ironhide never actually ate with us, but he just sat at the table and talked to us. It was a relatively normal meal: mom talked about her upcoming book, I talked about school, Akila talked about school, and Ironhide would tell us war stories. It was all per the norm, and recently I had to learn to get back to that.

"Ironhide, I was wondering it, after dinner, you could scan Brooke? She's been very sick lately and she refuses to go to the doctor, saying it's some Cybertronian illness," my mom finally said. I paused and coughed out my spaghetti.

Ironhide chucked. "Well apparently she can't even eat right!" he joked.

"Mom, it's fine. I am fine. I've dealt with this for months, I can deal with it some more," I assured her, trying to get out of the scan. If he scanned me, he'd tell her it was because of the bond and I'd be doomed. She'd never let me go to Cybertron. Just the thought of it put my stomach in knots.

Don't throw up, don't throw up. Whatever you do, don't throw up. But looking at the spaghetti, it was kind of hard _not_ to throw up. So I quickly excused myself and ran to the bathroom. Okay, this bond thing sucked. I needed to send a message to Optimus as soon as I was done.

"Brooke Nicolle Walters! That's it! Ironhide, go scan her! I'm tired of seeing my daughter so sick!" mom yelled, standing up from the table. I rinsed my mouth out and went into the dining room where everyone was standing up.

"What's-a the problem here?" Mirage must have returned home from his date and walked into the dining room. Nobody paid him any mind though.

"Okay, hold on, scanning now," Ironhide said. He must have been scanning from his true form in the driveway. Suddenly, when I'm guessing the scan was complete, Ironhide's jaw dropped.

"What?" I asked, my heart starting to race. Ironhide didn't move. "Ironhide, what is it? Tell me!"

Akila grabbed his hand. "Hide…?" she muttered. My mom had her eyes fixed on me.

"Brooke, I… I don't know how to say this…" Ironhide muttered. "You're pregnant."

I froze. What? I was… I was pregnant? There was a baby inside of me? It would explain so much… the nausea, the weight gain… I was pregnant. With Optimus' child. How did that even work? We didn't have sex! We bonded!

"No… How… How is this possible?" I asked. Ironhide looked grim and couldn't even speak. "Ironhide!"

"It's not possible…" he muttered. Akila was frozen and so was my mother. Not possible? How in the world was this not possible?! "We need to tell Optimus. You need help."

"No!" I yelled. "We can't tell Optimus. Things are going to well on New Cybertron. He doesn't need to be distracted. We'll handle it. It shouldn't… It shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"There's-a no way for us to protect you from this," Mirage said. I couldn't believe it. I was flying solo on this one. And no matter what anyone did, they couldn't help. Not even Optimus could help at this point. It was a first. A complete first.

"Brooke, have you had sex?" my mom asked, quiet. "I told you that I didn't want grandchildren!"

"You think I planned this mom?!" I yelled back at her. "I haven't had sex! I'm a virgin! But… Optimus and I bonded…"

"Bonding is-a the equivalent to your biological sex," Mirage explained. "It's how we reproduce. And apparently it worked."

"So Optimus had sex with her and knew she could get pregnant and he still did it," my mom muttered.

Ironhide turned to her. "Now wait a moment," he argued. "I've known Optimus for years now. If he had any clue that bonding could result in a pregnancy, he wouldn't have done it. No biological has every possessed a piece of Cybertronian inside them such as Brooke. He had no clue something like this would happen."

"Plus," I added, "he didn't bond with me for that reason. I was still having bad visions from my bond with Megatron. He bonded with me and that made the visions stop. He was helping me."

"So… You're having a child," Akila muttered. "I'm going to be an aunt; holy cow…"

"Look guys," I told them. "So obviously, there is going to be a child born soon. And I'm not entirely sure what it is or how this is going to work, but I need some support. This baby is going to be a first. Please help me out. Please?"

Everyone seemed very apprehensive. Mirage stepped forward. "Before he left, Optimus told-a me personally to keep an eye over you. As-a your guardian, I'm-a gonna keep that promise," he said.

Akila stepped forward as well. "You're my little sister. We've taken down a Decepticon ship together. We can handle this," she said.

"And," Ironhide added, "as your older brother-in-law, I'm here as well."

My mother was looking at the ground. "Though it's a bit sooner than I expected, I have a grandchild on the way. And this is to be celebrated. I'm here to help, Brooke," she said.

I may not have Optimus, but I did have some loved ones. And I felt safe.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks to ND'sRebel for reminding me that I'm stupid! I had this chapter mostly written up, I just didn't finish the end and I forgot to upload it sooo. I've been waiting to drop this bomb on you guys for a while! So Brooke is pregnant! Optimus is going to be a dad! What all's going to happen? Stay tuned!<em>


	12. His Child

The next day seemed so different knowing that there was a living being inside of me. I woke up at 5:30 like I did every morning, prepared to finish my last month of high school. I didn't feel like showering and actually looking nice, so I opened up my laptop and opened communications.

I wrote to Optimus: _Good morning Optimus! 35 days left until school is over. Do you know when you will be back? I know it takes four months to arrive back to Earth but I wish you could be here for my graduation… _

After, I wrote to Bumblebee and said: _Hey Bee! So excited to hear about how New Cybertron is going. I can't wait to see it. Little Ben is growing up so fast; he misses you. I do too. I'll see you soon._

I shut the computer and got dressed in a tee shirt, sweat pants, and sneakers. Downstairs, my mom was sitting down and reading a paper with her morning coffee. "Good morning sweetie," she said as she smiled up at me.

"Morning," I mumbled back as I stumbled into the kitchen and poured some cereal.

"When do exams start?" she asked me.

I grabbed some cereal from the pantry and poured some in a bowl. "I think they're starting in a few days. All of my classes are winding down," I said.

"Are you going to tell Katheryn and Landon?" mom asked.

I paused. "Tell them what?"

"About…" she thought about her words. "About the baby."

I put a hand on my stomach and sighed. Would I tell them? They were my best friends here, maybe I should. But what would they think of me? Would I have to tell them all about the Autobots? I mean people already knew of their existence, but how would they take to me being their leader? Or me being pregnant with an alien baby?

"I have no clue mom," I told her. "I guess eventually I'll start to have a bump and then I'll have to explain to them. But for now I think we'll be fine."

We ate for a bit and I watched the news until it was finally time for me to leave for classes. Mom got up and started to look for her keys, but then Mirage appeared in the doorway.

"Relax Ash, I can drive her this morning," he said with a smile. Mom nodded and put the keys back.

"I don't even know why I have to be driven around. I can drive for Pete's sake. The government couldn't help out a girl who saved the planet and get her a beat up VW bug or something?" I complained walking out the door. Of course, showing up to school in luxury cars wasn't exactly hurting my reputation either.

* * *

><p>The last few weeks of school seemed to fly by with exams and cramming. Katheryn and Landon came over almost every day to study together. Sometimes they would even stay for dinner, sometimes even with Ironhide and Akila. And before I knew it, they were coming over to celebrate the last day of school.<p>

Within a month, my baby bump had grown pretty big, though it wasn't hard to hide with a hoodie. Mom said I looked about 19-20 weeks pregnant, which showed that the baby was maturing fast. Of course, a lot of the pregnancy did not add up at ALL to a human pregnancy. At all. I was about five months along but Optimus and I bonded ten months ago. No one could really explain, as Ironhide said Cybertronian pregnancies are very quick, about half the time of a normal human pregnancy. One idea, offered up by Akila, was that since Cybertronian pregnancies involve two sparks creating another and human pregnancies involve a sperm and egg (one of which was missing from both sides), it took a while for my body to compensate, pairing his genome with mine. It made very little sense whatsoever but it was all medical terms that I had no word for.

Basically during this time I was looking at all the pregnancy websites to see if my pregnancy was fairly normal, which it was. I was excited, as my baby could apparently hear my heartbeat and my voice. I wondered what he/she would be like. What about names? I had never even really thought of names, and I guess I would later when the pregnancy was further along.

Oh how I yearned to tell Optimus of his child that I carried, but I knew I couldn't distract him from building New Cybertron. The main buildings of the capitol city, Cybertropolis, were built. There was a large space port, with a new ship being built for its maiden voyage to Earth. There was also large homes created on the outskirts of the city for all of the Autobots who helped on Earth. Smaller homes, like apartments, were made for any new Autobots who arrived. A few Autobots did actually arrive already, both male and female. Optimus said that as soon as the ship was ready to fly, he would be coming to get me, which was exciting.

But of course, that wouldn't be for another few months.

"Mom, today's the day," I told her and I pulled back on my hoodie in expectation of Katheryn and Landon.

"You're telling them?" she asked as she looked up from her latest novel. "About just your pregnancy or… all of it?"

"I think they deserve to know all of it," I said. "They've been my friends all year. My first real friends besides the Autobots. I think they should know before I disappear to another planet."

My mom leaned back in her chair and smiled. "I can't wait for Cybertropolis. Sitting back by the poolside and not having to worry about bills ever again. Paradise!" she exclaimed.

"Wait, pool?!" I asked. "Where did you hear about a pool?"

"Uhh, Ratchet told me," she said with a slight blush.

"Whoa now!" I yelled as I dropped everything. "You've been talking to Ratchet?"

My mom blushed. "Uhh maybe," she said. I gave her a look. "Oh come on Brooke! It's been five years since your father and I got divorced! Plus both of my girls are dating aliens, I thought I'd give it a shot!"

"You're DATING him?!" I screamed.

"NO!" she screamed back. "No, no, no! We're just talking! Honestly, Brooke!"

Gosh. My mom dating Ratchet. Grumpy old Ratchet. What a surprise that was.

Before I could comment any longer, the doorbell rang. My mom let out a sigh as I went to open the door. It was Landon, who was usually the first one over since he lived in the neighborhood.

"Grades are in and guess who got all A's!" he yelled as soon as the door opened.

"Oh Landon that's incredible! Good job!" I said as I hugged him. "I got As except for that B in politics. I swear that teacher hated me."

The two of us went to watch TV in the living room until Katheryn came over. I sat her down on the couch, turned off the TV, and went in front of them.

"Okay guys, so I have some things to tell you," I started.

"You're going to miss us when we go to college, we know!" Katheryn said with a laugh. I told them I was going to go straight into the work force and not go to college. Katheryn was going to the University of Arizona to major in early childhood development and Landon was going to Yale to major in biochemistry. "We'll be back on breaks!"

"No, no that's not it…" I said. "I actually need to show you this, okay? Mirage!" Mirage came down from upstairs and leaned against the banister.

"Your cousin?" Landon asked.

"Well, sort of. Come on guys," I said and led them outside to Mirage's alt form. We all got in and he zoomed to the flat desert, far from the main road. Finally we stopped and everyone got out.

"Why do I feel like this is one of those scary movies where they take us out to the desert and kill us?" Katheryn said. I chuckled at her.

"Okay guys I thought I'd tell you the truth. Ready?" they both nodded and I nodded to Mirage. He made his holoform disappear and both Landon and Katheryn jumped back.

"W-What?! Where'd he go?" Kathyn yelled. His alt form transformed into his robot form and he leaned on one hip.

"He's a transformer!" Landon yelled. Katheryn screamed and backed away.

"Oh, calm down," Mirage said with an eye roll.

"Guys, guys listen to me," I said as I stood in front of Mirage. Both were staring wide-eyed at Mirage. "This is Mirage. He's an Autobot and my protector, for the moment." Gosh, where do I start to explain? "So there are two factions of transformers: the good Autobots and the evil Decepticons. The leader of the Decepticons, Megatron, stole my mom two years ago, so my sister Akila and I joined the Autobots. After a lot of fights and magical alien technology, I killed Megatron, basically destroying the Decepticons. Now I'm one of the leaders of the transformers. The transformers and their leader, Optimus Prime, are on another planet right now, rebuilding a new home world. But when they come back… I'm going with them. So I thought I would let you guys know." What I quick summery!

"So… You're the leader of an alien race?" Landon asked.

"I thought-a he was supposed to be smart?" Mirage asked.

"Turn down the sass!" I screamed at him. "But yeah. I'm the leader. They call me Virimus Prime. While Optimus and the others are getting the planet set up, I was finishing my last year of high school. Now that I'm done and the planet is mostly set up, they could come back any day now."

"How did you defeat one of those big things?!" Katheryn asked.

"Uhm, well, thanks to that magical alien technology, I have the power of electricity," I told her, and allowed a few sparks to fly from my hands. I didn't like using my powers lately, knowing that there was a child inside of me. Katheryn eyed my hands with wide eyes.

"They look so much taller on the news," Landon muttered. Dino growled at that.

"Optimus is even taller," I told them. "28 feet tall. But guys, there's something else that I need to tell you. Something that's probably as important as what I first told you." I pulled off my hoodie to where I was just wearing a tight tank top which fully showed off my pregnant belly.

Katheryn ran up to me and put her hand on my stomach. "You're _pregnant_?!" she asked. "Who's the father?"

I sighed. "Uhh see that's the important detail. The father is Optimus Prime," I said.

"You had sex with a transformer? Oh my gosh, what is that even like?" Landon asked, stunned. Katheryn hit him on the arm.

"So is it… human?" she asked.

"I have no clue. The pregnancy is going by rapidly. I'm about 20 weeks along apparently. My mom gives me like two months," I said.

"Have you thought of names?!"

Landon jumped between us. "_Katheryn_! Our best friend just announced that she is the leader of an alien race and that she's pregnant with an alien baby, and all you can care about is baby names?" he yelled.

"See that word you said? Best friend? Because that's what she is! Our best friend. And we're gonna support her no matter what, you got that?" she said.

"Okay, I like-a this girl," Mirage said with a smirk.

Katheryn smiled at him. "Why thank you! Now, let's go back and celebrate our last day of school and then you and I are talking baby names!" she said. Mirage transformed back into his car form and we went back to the house.

We spent the night eating junk food and watching movies. I caught the two of them up on my adventures, answering any questions they had for me. They left at about 10 and I opened my laptop to read a new message from Optimus, sent about 3 hours prior.

_Amazing news, Brooke! We took the new ship, the _Gladiator_ out on a test run and it is ready for flight to Earth! We will be leaving tomorrow morning. Expect us in four months. I am very eager to share my world with you._

They're coming back! It's almost time! And when Optimus comes to get me, his son/daughter will be here. I can't wait to see his face when he sees his child for the first time. Will the bond tell him when his child his born? When… our child is born?

My mom came bursting through my room. "Did you hear?!" she yelled.

"Of course I did!" I yelled. "Four months! Start putting the house on the market mom!" She smiled and left my room to go call Akila.

'I'm so excited Optimus, and my mom is too. I can't wait to see you again! :)' I wrote.

Then I heard loud footsteps banging up the stairs. My mom burst in my room again, this time with shortness of breath.

"Mom, are you okay?" I asked, closing my laptop and shoving it under my pillow.

"Brooke, we have a problem," she said, quickly shutting the door and resting her back on it. I quickly stood up but then froze at what I heard.

"This is the CIA," a man called from downstairs. "Brooke Walters, come out, come out wherever you are," he said in an almost sing-song manner.

"What do they want with me?" I asked. "We're on good terms with the government!"

My mom said, "I don't know. But they used electricity to disable Mirage. Whatever it is, it can't be good."

I stood up and electricity sparked from my hands. "They want electricity, I'll show them electricity," I said.

* * *

><p><em>Hello everyone! Once again, sorry for the long wait. But it was only three months this time instead of the usual six! I just got back from seeing Age of Extinction and I absolutely loved it. It really got me back in the transformers mindset and is taking me in a whole new direction with this story. You won't be disappointed!<br>Also, I am looking for a beta reader for this story. I have this whole story in my head but sometimes I forget details I haven't said and other things. So mostly the beta reader would need to help catch any holes, help with future plots, and really nag me to finish this story when I take forever to update. So if you are interested, please private message me! Thanks for putting up with me guys!_


	13. Keep Earth Human

The electricity cackled from my hands as my mom moved from the door to my closet.

"We're going to kick down the door Ms. Virimus. You have 5 seconds. 5…" he started to count down. There was no way I was going to open the door, as they probably had guns and Tasers and whatever else pointed to shoot as soon as I opened it.

"4… 3… 2…"

"Be careful, Brooke," my mom whispered. I nodded at her and prepared myself. My muscles tensed as I prepared for a battle.

"1!" he yelled as the door hinges broke and fell. Men in black suits with large guns came storming into my room and I shot electricity towards them. I tried to only use enough to stun them, mindful of my child. Finally, one man in a suit and sunglasses walked in, flanked by two others. I shot electricity but they weren't stunned. The two men who were flanking him came towards me and one grabbed my hands, pulling them behind me. I felt rubber touch my skin and I realized that must have used some sort of rubber insulator to protect themselves from my powers. The other man went and grabbed my mother. They handcuffed us both.

"Honestly Brooke, did you really think we weren't expecting your powers?" the main man asked, taking off his sunglasses. He was a dark-skinned man with very short black hair. "We're the Central _Intelligence_ Agency. Now of course, those few men at the beginning will be fine, just a needed liability."

"What the hell do you want with me?" I screamed as I struggled in the man's grip.

"Let's talk about this in the car, shall we?" he said, and waved his fingers. The men who held my mother and I moved out of my room and shoved us out of the house. A few neighbors had come out to see the spectacle, including Landon. When I saw him, I locked eyes with him and mouthed 'Help me!' He nodded and I was shoved in the black SUV.

My mother was put in the way back with one agent and I was in the back seat between one agent and the leader. As soon as the door was shut, the car sped off. I looked out the window to see Mirage's car form, who wasn't moving.

"I'm an American citizen and these are not my rights!" my mother yelled.

"Oh, shut it!" the leader yelled. "Now, on to business."

"You know my name," I said. "Kind of improper that I don't know yours."

"The name's Ryan, Ryan Pace. I work for the CIA, with the alien task force. Congress has heard of the Autobots new planet and, now that they are gone, they wonder how much more involvement Earth should have with the alien race. Oh, Mr. Kingsbury, write 'Resisting Police' on the notes. The man in the front seat, a scrawny man with glasses and blond hair, quickly scribbled down words on a notepad, then turned to me.

"Joe Kingsbury, ma'am. Big fan of your leadership with N.E.S.T.," he introduced. "I've been hired to research for Congress." He held out a hand for a handshake but then awkwardly retracted it when he realized that I was handcuffed.

"Don't be civil, Mr. Kingsbury," Pace said. "Now Ms. Walters, since you refused to come nicely, we're taking you to our plane at Phoenix airport then to the CIA headquarters for questioning."

"Last time I checked, Congress didn't speak for the entire human race," I told him.

"When the Autobots landed in our country, that gave us the right."

The ride was silent for a few miles before a voice sounded over the radio. "Sir, we have an alien life detected," the voice said.

"Intercept!" Pace screamed into the radio.

"Yes sir we- Augh!" the man yelled. The driver of our car looked nervous as he kept glancing back in the rear view mirror. I leaned forward and looked in it too but was quickly pulled back, but not until I could see exactly who was behind us.

I smirked towards Pace. "Hostilities against the Autobots won't be tolerated," I said.

"You seem overly optimistic," Pace said. "We are the top spies in the best nation in the world. A little teenager does not threaten us."

Suddenly the van was rammed in the back and a large horn sounded. "No, but does a 22 foot tall robot covered in guns threaten you?" I said calmly while everyone else was freaking out.

"Who is that?!" Joe yelled, scared out of his mind.

"My brother," I said with a smile. Mom chucked in the back seat. Ironhide quickly sped up from behind us to be next to us and rammed the side. The car spun out of control and ran off the road. I heard the sounds of transforming and soon the roof of the car was being torn off.

"I believe you have someone I know," Ironhide said. The side doors were open and Akila was on one side with Will Lennox and Sam on the other.

"Out, all of you! Hands above your head!" Akila ordered. Everyone got out of the car and did as she said while Sam helped my mother and me out of the car. "You," she pointed her gun at the agent who held me before, "unbind them." He pulled a key out of his pocket and took the hand cuffs off of my mother and me. There were deep red marks around my wrists, as they put my cuffs on very tight.

"Wait, don't hurt him," I said, motioning to Joe. "He was nice." Joe put his hands down and stood relaxed. Then Will and Akila moved the two agents, the driver, and Pace together, guns still pointing. Ironhide even had his large cannons pointed at them.

"Mr. Kingsbury," my mom said very sweetly. "When you tell your account of today to congress, please don't forget to tell them how we were forced out of our home without a warrant and handcuffed. Also, how they had guns pointed at me and my daughter."

"They had guns pointed at you?" Ironhide growled, putting the guns even closer to the agents' heads.

"We gotta get out of here!" Will yelled. "There will be back-up any minute now."

Akila shot out the tired on their car and Ironhide transformed into his Silverado form. Akila jumped in the front seat, Will in the passenger, and Sam, my mother, and I in the back.

"You guys are in big danger. We need to get you somewhere safe. I have some army buddies in Alaska, we can hide there," Will said.

"We need to get everyone. Anyone who was closely involved with the Autobots is in danger," I said. This was so sudden. Everything was so fine with my pregnancy and my friends knowing. Katheryn was going to come over tomorrow and help me think of baby names. And now the government was trying to detain us.

"There's a small air field by my house and an old military friend of mine has a Cessna 421. It can fit six people in the cabin and two up in the cock pit. Of course, it can't transport cars…" Will muttered.

"Thank God for Will's military buddies," Sam said with a chuckle.

"Mirage and I can make it to wherever you are going. We can make it there and three days," Ironhide rumbled.

"Perfect," Akila said. "So who's going? Brooke, mom, Will, Sarah, Annabelle, Sam, Michaela, Ben, and me. Plus the pilot. It's going to be a tight fit in the cabin but it will work."

The plan was set and everyone was dropped off at their respective houses to quickly pack the essentials. When we went to our neighborhood, it was no good as the house was swarming with CIA agents.

"My computer is in there," I said. "If they find it, they can find all of my communications with Optimus."

"Brooke!" I heard. I looked out the window to Landon's house, where he was waving us down. Ironhide pulled into his driveway and I got out of the car.

"I'm glad they could find you!" Landon yelled as he ushered all of us into his house. "I could tell you needed help, Brooke. So when all of those agents left your house, I quickly ran in and used your cell phone to call your sister. Then, I got these before they came back." He led us into his living room where all of our electronics were sitting.

"Oh my gosh Landon you're incredible!" I yelled, hugging him tightly. "Now listen, the government has turned their back on us so we're all going into hiding. I can't tell you where just in case... you know. Just tell Katheryn I'll be safe alright? I can't risk any communications."

"Will I ever see you again?" he asked.

"Maybe when all of this is over. I don't know. Thank you for being one of the best friends I've ever had. You're going to be a great biochemist. And tell Katheryn that, if we end up being able to see each other again, she's my number one babysitter," I said.

My mother had put all of the electronics in Ironhide and it was time to go. "Thank you," I told Landon "Thank you so much. For everything." And with that, I left my friend behind and drove off in Ironhide. It wasn't long before Mirage, who was hiding out nearby, drove behind us. Needless to say, he was pretty pissed at being shocked by humans while he was in recharge.

We arrived at Will's house and everyone was there with only about a backpack each. Essentials only and everyone really stuck to that. As soon as Ironhide dropped us off, he and Mirage began their 3 day drive to Alaska.

"Well, everyone, first rule of going off the grid: No cell phones. So everyone, please, cell phones," Will said as he held his hand out. Everyone gave him their phones and Will threw them each on the floor, crushing them.

"Annabelle," Will said sternly. Will's 14 year old daughter froze and grasped her phone to her chest.

"But daaaad," she moaned.

"Anna, _now_," Sarah yelled. Annabelle moaned and gave her phone to her father, which was promptly destroyed.

While the bags were being loaded into the van, Michaela pulled me aside. "I see that baby bump, miss," she said with a smile.

"Oh, uh, yeah. It was a surprise to us all," I said.

"Please tell me it's Optimus'."

"Of course!" I yelled, wrapping my arms around my stomach.

"Have you thought of any names?" she asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "My friend was going to help me with it but I guess she won't be able to. I mean I've been thinking. I know I have favorite girl and boy names… I'm thinking Hadley Nicolle Pax for a girl, Jace Orion Pax for a boy," I said.

"Those are beautiful names," Michaela told me. I smiled. Hadley and Jace had no significance, just two names I really liked. Nicolle was my middle name and Orion was Optimus' name before he became a Prime.

Soon everything was loaded and we drove to the air field. When we got there, the plane was fueled up and waiting for us. An older man with a long beard stood by it and helped us all into the plane. Will pulled me aside and introduced me to the man.

"Brooke Walters, this is Colonel Robert Castor," he introduced. Robert smiled.

I held out my hand for a handshake. He took my one hand in both of his and shook very eagerly. "Oh my dear it is very, very good to meet you! I've heard so many stories, all good!" he said. "It is my honor to help you!" I smiled at him and got into the plane.

Will got in the passenger seat and, before we knew it, we could see the lights of Phoenix below us. Ben was completely awed at the lights while everyone got comfy in their seat. It was a five hour flight and it had been a long day. When everyone was asleep save for Will and Robert, I pulled open my computer to see a message from Optimus. Thankfully he made it so I didn't have to use the internet to send messages, so our system was safe.

_We are currently on our way to Earth! ETA September 10. I am so excited to see you, precious one. Save your graduation robes! I shall only be a few months late but I would still love to see them_ he wrote.

Oh shoot… Graduation. Looks like I'll be missing that one. What a bummer; 12 years of schooling and I miss my graduation.

'Optimus… We have a problem. A big problem. The government has turned on us. Will and his family, Sam and his family, and my family are all currently on a plane to a secure location.'

It wasn't long until Optimus answered. _What did you say? This… This is betrayal! You need to get in contact with one of our government allies._

'I don't know what else I can do Optimus. Congress is skeptical about the Autobots returning to Earth whatsoever. If they decide the Autobots will no longer be welcomed in America, we may have to find refuge elsewhere until you can come and get us.'

_Talk with the Canadian government. I have met with their leader and he trusts me… Perhaps he will trust you. What did the government do to you?_

'It was the CIA. They barged into my house… They had suits, Optimus. Suits that could withstand my electricity. Then they hand cuffed me and my mom and they were taking us to the CIA headquarters, but then Ironhide stopped them.'

_If I were there, I would do anything to protect you. I need to be there now! _

I could tell he was getting angry. I out my hand on my stomach and felt, for the first time, a movement. The baby inside of me moved! I still couldn't tell Optimus about the baby, now he was too worried for my safety. It was not a good time.

_Brooke, I need you to call President Ackerman. I am sending you his number now. He is an ally, I know for certain. Please, just call him._

"Fine, I will," I said. I walked up into the cock pit and looked at Robert. "Colonel, do you have a cell phone?" I asked him.

"Yes ma'am I do! And please, Robert is fine," he said, handing me an old flip phone.

"Brooke, you know the rule," Will said.

"No, trust me Will, I'm acting on orders straight from Optimus." I went back in the cabin and dialed the number Optimus gave me. On the second ring, Ackerman answered.

"Ackerman speaking," he said.

"It's me, Brooke. Can you _please _explain to me the CIA violating my rights as an American citizen and arresting me without warrant today?" I asked.

"Brooke! Oh my goodness, I have been trying to get in touch with you! Hold on one moment, let me secure the call." He paused for a moment then said, "Those men were not CIA! They're not even affiliated with the government! Have you ever heard of the website _Transformers Are Dangerous_?" he asked.

"No, never."

"Well, basically it is run by this vigilante group known as the Organic Warriors. Their slogan is 'Keep Earth Human'. They aren't related to the CIA or Congress at all!" he informed me.

"Wait but they had that guy… Joe Kingsomething. He said he worked for Congress and he was taking notes to submit to them!" I told him.

"Probably just writing notes to submit a claim to the US government that the transformers are evil. Their leader, Ryan Pace, was fired from the CIA for his hostile tendencies. But the US government doesn't even have authority to ban the transformers from Earth, only the US. The only ones who can speak on behalf of the human race is the International Space Agency, and that is run by me. I'm your ally, Brooke. Now, where are you going? We can arrange a transport to get you and take you to a secure location," he said.

"It's a house west of Fairbanks, Alaska. Will Lennox has friends there so we're going there. Ironhide and Mirage are on their way and should be there in three days, Optimus has messaged me and they are on their way back to Earth and should be here on September 10," I told him.

"Alright, it's settled. That is a perfect hiding spot, actually. Give Will my regards. Will you be able to hide there for a month or two? The longer we can keep you all under the radar, the better," he explained.

"That's completely fine," I told him.

"Perfect! We will slowly begin to make arrangements. We have a base in Russia that the Autobots will be able to land there: latitude 63, longitude 100. Be sure to tell Optimus that. So, two months. That places us at July 28. We will meet you at the airport in Fairbanks. I'm glad you're safe, Brooke. Stay that way." With that, he hung up. I gave Robert back the phone and explained to them both what Ackerman told me. Will was happy with the news and I went back to the cabin and opened my computer.

'How'd you know to call him?' I asked Optimus.

_I asked him to watch over you while I was gone. I knew he was trustworthy. What did he tell you?_

'Those people that attacked us weren't the CIA, it was this group that wants to 'Keep Earth Human' apparently. He told me to tell you that, when you come, to land the ship at latitude 63, longitude 100. In two months, he's going to take us from where we're going to that secure location. I'll feel much safer when I have my feet on New Cybertron.'

_And I'll feel much safer when you're with me._

'I need to sleep, Optimus. It's been a long day. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?'

_Okay. I'll see you then._

And with that, I drifted to sleep. The next thing I saw was the beautiful sunrise over the Alaskan mountains.

* * *

><p><em>Wow two chapters within a matter of hours! It's about 5 am here now so I think I'll be going to bed now, even though I do want to stay up and write. I now have a definite direction for this story and I'm very excited! Also, beta reader still needed!<em>  
><em>So what do you guys think? Are you rooting for Hadley Nicolle or Jace Orion? Let me know!<em>


	14. We Have a Child To Watch Over!

Alaska was surprisingly warmer that I would imagine, and my tank top and jeans was perfect for this weather. The sun was bearing down as we landed on the runway. Before we landed, I told everyone of the Organic Warriors and the truth of what was happening.

Two trucks were waiting for us at the end of the runway. We all got out of the plane and grabbed the few bags we had, which for me was just my laptop. Will ran up and gave tight hugs to the two owners of the trucks, one a younger man with sleeked back black hair and the other an older gentleman with buzz cut hair.

"Everyone, this is Nicholas," he referred to the younger one, "and Ed Greene. Nicholas was in the army with me and was there in Egypt. His father Ed was the toughest drill sergeant at boot camp."

"Still am!" Ed bellowed with a hearty laugh and patted Will on the back. "Now everyone, welcome to Alaska! Our home is welcome to you all!"

"Thank you so much for this, sir," I told him.

"Anything for the people who have saved the world multiple times!" he said. Finally, some recognition!

We all climbed into the trucks, with Michaela and Ben sitting in in the front seat of Nicholas' truck and Sam, Will, and my mom sat in the bed of the truck since there was no room. In Ed's truck, Annabelle sat in the passenger seat and Sarah, Akila, and I sat in the bed. Sitting in the bed of the truck was a lot of fun with the wind blowing in my hair.

"How's the baby feeling, Brooke?" Akila asked. I took her hand and guided it down to my belly where, on instinct, the baby moved against her hand. "Oh my! My little niece-or-nephew is moving!" Sarah also put her hand on my stomach and felt the baby move.

"What about names?" Sarah asked me.

"Hadley Nicolle or Jace Orion," I told her.

Akila smiled and wouldn't move her hand off my stomach. "Aw! Little baby Hadley or baby Jace! I love it!" she squealed.

"How do you think Optimus is going to react?" Sarah asked. I leaned back and looked up at the orange sky.

"I don't know…" I muttered. "I am trying to keep his focus on New Cybertron and not tell him until he gets here." Sarah smiled at me.

"There's no feeling like being a mother," Sarah said. "Seeing your child's face for the first time… It's remarkable." I couldn't wait until this baby was born. I was excited to see what it looked like; if it bared looks more like Optimus or me, if it was a boy or a girl, and even if it was going to be human or not. They were not exactly normal worries for a mother but still.

Finally we arrived at the home and it seemed average size. Ed told us that it had four rooms, which meant a room for each family. Of course, that also meant that some people would be sleeping on the floor and some on the couch. I'm sure that once Ironhide got here, Akila would probably be sleeping in his backseat. The beds weren't the comfiest I'd ever slept in and, to be honest, I would rather prefer sleeping in Optimus' cot.

We mostly unpacked and relaxed for the day, since everyone was so worried about having to completely uproot themselves. That night, my mom and Sarah took over dinner and decided to make a large pot of chili. While they cooked, I decided to do a little research. Ed and Nicholas knew hiding pretty well, as apparently this wasn't the first time they had hidden people on the run. Their internet was completely secure to where no one could track us.

When I went onto the _Transformers Are Dangerous_ website, the first thing I saw was a close up of Optimus' eyes, but they were tinted red instead of blue. I scrolled down and clicked a picture of the globe, where there were red dots and audio files all over. I clicked an audio file from Arizona where a man said, "Hi, uh, I'm calling from Prescott, Arizona, and I saw this red transformer out in the desert and it was with I think three people." That was how they found us. This guy. I clicked on other locations and there were newspaper clippings from all around the world.

I went back to the home page and clicked another link, which led me to posters. Two were similar, one with a close up of Bumblebee and another with a close up of Optimus. Over their eyes was a black mark that said 'Keep Earth Human'. Another was an eye that said 'Only you can prevent another attack. If you see something, say something' along with a phone number to call.

There was also an 'About the Cause' page that gave the mission of the Organic Warriors. 'Our mission is to rid the Earth of the alien scum and anyone allied with them. They have caused nothing but destruction for Earth.' Then, there was a picture of Ryan Pace in a military uniform. 'Our founder, Ryan Pace, was worked closely with those who have dealt with the transformers and has seen the destruction they have caused. Their leader Optimus Prime has brought innocent humans into their war recklessly and we seek to arrest anyone involved in their cause.' What a loser.

The baby started moving around a lot in my stomach and I thought about what would happen if Pace found out about it. Would he try to destroy the child of a human and an alien? Probably. That evil, evil man would probably kill my baby in a heartbeat. It made me furious and want to shock every inch of him with electricity.

A message popped up from Bumblebee and I closed out of the hellish website. _Hey Brooke! Optimus told me everything that happened. It's all crazy! I can't wait to see you again and show you all the cool places around New Cybertron. Lots of shenanigans are coming!_

I missed Bee so much. He and I used to goof around all the time and now I don't even know if we'll be able to do that, with me being a mother and all. It really just struck me that now I had to be even more of an adult with my child on the way. I mean, I am 18 which is legally an adult, but I didn't really imagine myself as an adult. But now I had a child to take care of.

'I'm so excited Bee. Can I be arrested in New Cybertron? Or am I like above the law? Because if I am, we're going to be having a lot of fun!' Of course I was joking. Could you imagine Optimus having to come bail me out of jail? That would not be good.

_Haha! Optimus would kill us both! Besides, we have a child to watch over!_

I froze. 'What?'

_Little Ben! We need to train him in our ways._

Oh thank God. 'Yeah man, we'll train him! It'll be lots of fun!'

Then, a message from Optimus popped up.

_Have you arrived safely?_ he asked.

'Yes sir! We are here and all crammed in to the house; one big happy family! I've been doing some research on the Organic Warriors.'

_Brooke, we have reached a signal spot where I can call you on here. Would that be okay?_ he asked. Would that he okay?! To hear his voice? Oh, yes! I quickly ran up to the room I shared with Akila and mom and shut the door.

'Okay, ready!' I told him. Next thing I knew, this green button and red button appeared on the screen. I hit the green button and waited.

"Brooke?" Oh, my gosh. Hearing his voice again, saying my name… It was a great feeling.

"Optimus!" I said. "This is great. How are you able to do this?!" I asked him.

"It wasn't easy… The system Ratchet made is primitive, made for your laptop technology. But right now we are in an area where the communication is strong enough that this is possible. I only have a few minutes, however," he explained. The baby in my stomach started moving around. Could it recognize it's father's voice?

"That's great Optimus. It's great to hear your voice again. I'm excited to get out of here!" I told him. The baby wouldn't stop moving and kicking against my hand.

"I am excited to see your smiling face, little one. Now tell me, what have you learned about the Warriors?" he asked me.

"Well, they certainly have a few up close shots of you! Except they have photo shopped your eyes to be red like a Decepticon. It's kind of creepy, seeing you with red eyes. But they have this number where people can report alien activity and I think that's how they found me," I explained.

"That sounds worrisome. Make sure that you don't get detected where you are," he said.

"You got it, boss."

"I have to go now; the signal is wearing out. I will message you later, Brooke. I love you," he said. With the 'I love you', the baby kicked hard against my hand.

"I love you too," I said, and the phone turned off. I closed my laptop and looked down on my stomach. "Geez baby, you're got your parents' fighting spirit," I told it. I hated calling the baby an 'it', but I didn't want to know the gender until it was born. Part of the reason was that I couldn't go to the hospital to get it checked, just in case the baby wasn't as human as I thought.

"Brooke! Dinner!" my mom yelled from downstairs. I went downstairs and ate together with my new adopted big family.

* * *

><p>My pregnancy was moving along pretty rapidly but other than that seemed like a pretty normal pregnancy. Getting a full night's sleep was a rarity and every part of me seemed to ache as I carried the large baby.<p>

Mirage and Ironhide arrived on time and spent their time goofing around at the house. Ironhide usually kept near Akila and watched over her. Akila had confided in me that she wanted a child with him, but was unsure on how exactly that would work. The only reason the pregnancy really happened for me was because I had the Matrix in me. But of course, she said she was trying and that was enough to hear from her.

Sarah, Michaela, and my mom really helped me the most during the pregnancy. We decided to have an at home birth to avoid any complications at the hospital. Sarah had had an at home birth with Annabelle so she knew a bit of how it worked. My mom took a few midwife classes so she could help out as well. They helped me buy maternity clothes when I grew too large for just sweat shirts. I also needed new clothes since all of my normal clothes were left at the house. They also said that they would help me when I was in labor, which made me very secure. Akila helped with emotional support.

Ironhide was teaching me all about Cybertron and the Cybertronian language. I learned how to write the alphabet in modern Cybertronian and a few ancient Prime words. He also taught me a few Cybertronian lullabies, as this website I was checking said that the baby could hear my voice and singing helps the child. Learning another language was a whole new experience, especially since it is so harsh and, well, metallic sounding. Ironhide taught me the actual Cybertronian names for all of the Autobots: his was Xedqan (Iron skin), Bumblebee's was Xaatvion (The yellow spy), and Optimus' was Aap'timus Praim (The honored great ascending of the honored one… Sounded pretty fancy).

We wanted to buy the baby clothes but of course it was hard since we didn't know the gender. We did get some gender-neutral clothes like onesies and pajamas and saving the gender things for when the baby is born. We bought some furniture for the baby, including a crib, a high chair, and a bouncer. We also bought an activity gym for him/her to play with and some diapers.

We had spent a little over a month in Alaska and mom said the baby was due any day now. I was so excited to get the baby out of me, as carrying another life hurt my back and my ankles. I also spent a majority of my day in the bathroom, since the baby was sitting on my bladder. My stomach was humungous and it looked like the baby was going to burst out of me like that creature from"The Thing".

Ed and Nicholas proved to be very good friends. Ed became like a grandfather to me as he always entertained me with his old war stories. He fought in the Vietnam War and decided to continue to serve his country by training future soldiers. Nicholas was just another guy pal for Will and Sam. They always joked around and sometimes even played football in the backyard. Everyone usually joined in while I watched, since my belly was so big I couldn't really move. I also had barely any energy, as most of it was going into sustaining the baby.

One evening, while on the back porch cooking out on a Friday evening, we were all discussing our plans for New Cybertron.

"I can't wait to-a see what everyone was doing," Mirage said, leaning back and basking in the sun. "Cybertron was a _beautiful_ place! Glimmering metal as far as the eye can see. And now there's no Decepticons to worry about!"

"A Cybertron without Decepticons," Ironhide said dreamily as he wrapped an arm around Akila. "That sounds like complete heaven."

"Can't wait to see Bumblebee!" Ben yelled out. Everyone chuckled at that; Ben really missed his guardian.

"And I'm sure Brooke is excited to show Prime her bun in the oven!" Will joked.

"If that man doesn't propose the second he sees that baby, I disown him," mom said which made everyone laugh. My mom had a point though; her policy was always marriage before pregnancy, which didn't exactly work out in this scenario.

"No, but for real Brooke, what are you most excited for?" Akila asked.

"I guess… Seeing Optimus again," I said, which made everyone give the cliché 'Awww'. "But, sitting in a big house poolside for the rest of my life doesn't sound too bad either!"

The sting lights began to shine as the moon rose higher in the sky and the dinner was eaten. The baby was squirming even more than usual. It was probably getting cramped in there!

Suddenly I felt a bit of wetness through my yoga pants. Oh no. Oooh no, oh no, oh no! "Guys?" I asked. They were all too involved in their conversations to notice me. "Guys?" I said again. Still, no one seemed to notice me. Finally, I screamed. "Hello, guys! Pregnant lady with a baby busting out!" Everyone froze and looked at me. "Come on, you guys want to help or is this baby being born on the back porch?"

The women were all quickly up in arms, with Sarah and my mom helping me to my room. Towels and a fluffy blanket were all sitting next to me and a couple of towels were placed underneath me. All of my clothes were taken off except for my sports bra. The boys all stayed nearby; ready to grab anything that was needed. Ironhide however stayed near the door since he may be needed as this child was going to be half-Cybertronian.

I was in the worst pain of my life. The contractions were coming fast and hurt like hell. I was gripping on to the headboard of the bed with white knuckles as everyone got everything ready for the birth. I saw my mom and Akila at my side getting stuff ready and I called out to them.

"Guys, if this doesn't work out… I love you. So much. And tell Optimus I love him too," I told them. The pain was excruciating and I was worried this may be my last few hours. Tears welled up in both my mom's eyes and Akila's.

"I love you too, sis," she said and then ran into Ironhide's arms. He hugged her tightly and put his mouth against her forehead, whispering what seemed like comforting words to her as she cried into his chest.

My mom cupped the side of my face and I gave a weak smile through the pain. "Don't worry mom. If anything happens, I'll join the Primes and help guide souls to Primus. I'll see you again," I said. My mom started crying too.

"I love you with all my heart, Brooke," she said. She then wiped away her tears and got back to work on getting the birth ready.

My labor lasted a few hours and finally it was time for me to push as hard as I could. Akila and Michaela held up my legs while my mom and Sarah sat ready to grab the baby when it came. I was screaming at this point and Ironhide offered me his hand to grab. I was squeezing it so hard that, if he was really human, it would probably break his hand.

"I can see a head!" Sarah called out. Thank God!

"Come on baby push, push!" my mom yelled. "Oh look at that head! Just a bit more!"

That's when I heard it. A cry. My baby. My baby was alive! "Ash, cut the umbilical cord," Sarah said.

But before I could hear anything else, darkness was enveloping me. I started screaming, but it was like I had no breath in my lungs. I fought the darkness but finally it wrapped around me and I finally lost consciousness.

* * *

><p><em>Well it's time for the baby! And what happened to Brooke? Hellooo cliff hanger!<br>__I had to do a lot of research about pregnancies and at-home births so I hope my parents don't look at my history and get nervous... I was excited for the new baby to come so now I'm definitely going to try and slow the story down since it's going to fast. Still needed: **a beta reader**! Let me know if you're interested! Also, check out the Transformers Are Dangerous website! I wanted to incorporate some AoE stuff in there and this was a perfect way to do it! _


	15. Beautiful

It wasn't long before the next thing I saw was the roof of my bedroom. I sat up and looked around to see I was dressed in a black tee shirt and multicolored plaid pajama bottoms. The door to my room was shut and bright morning light was shining in through the window. Where was everyone? Was I in some sort of spirit world?

I slowly sat up and moved to stand. My stomach had gone flatter but still had a bit of a bump. My baby. Where was my baby?! Slowly I opened my door and made my way to the living room of the house. There were quiet murmurs so I followed them. When I got to the doorway of the living room, I had to lean up against it because I was too weak to go on. Sarah and Will were sitting on the couch and they saw me.

"Oh, my! Brooke, you're awake! Will, go get everyone!" Sarah ordered as she got up and helped me sit down on the couch. She seemed to be jumping up and down with how excited she was.

"What happened?" I asked her, putting my hand on my head. It seemed that, while I was knocked out, someone had braided my hair back.

"After you gave birth, you fell into a deep sleep. Everyone was so worried but Ironhide then said that it was normal for the Cybertronian mothers to fall into recharge after birth. It took up a lot of energy to support that baby!" she explained.

"So how long was I out for?"

"Two weeks." Two weeks?! I was asleep for that long? That means… That means it won't be much longer till Optimus and the others arrive!

Everyone came storming in the room and Akila almost tackled me off the couch with a hug. Then my mom came and covered me in hugs and kisses all over. "I swear, first there was that speech about 'If I don't make it' and then you pass out? You're grounded forever," she scolded. I looked over her shoulder and saw Ironhide walking in with a bundle in his arms.

"Is that…?" I wondered. Ironhide walked up to me and handed out the bundle. I took it from him and looked into my baby's face.

"Brooke Walters," Ironhide introduced, "meet Jace Orion Pax!" I looked at the little boy in my arms. This was him, my son. _My_ son! He had strands of blond hair, the same shade as mine. His eyes were a bright, almost glowing blue, the same as Optimus'. Little freckles dotted along his nose.

"He's… He's beautiful," I said.

"He's growing fast," Michaela remarked. "Ironhide here says that Cybertronians mature fast during their toddler years then their aging process slows down from childhood till adulthood. After adulthood, that process is like a snail. Of course, we'll have to see how this goes since he's half-human and all."

I couldn't look away from Jace and everything about him. He was the embodiment of Optimus and I. And those bright blue eyes… I could stare into them forever. And I would get to. Every fiber of my being wanted to protect this little being from anything and everything. This little boy was mine and I felt as close to him as I did to Optimus.

"It's bonded sparks," Ironhide explained. "Some say that the bond between mother and child is as strong if not stronger than the bond between sparkmates." That explains it.

"We have about two weeks until they're coming to get us, and about two more months until the Autobots arrive, if they don't get here early. Everything is going to work out," Will said with a smile. Everyone was rejoicing and, for once, so was I. We made it. Soon we'd be in a secure location and all we had to do was wait until the Autobots came. Then we could have a nice, boring life on New Cybertron. Everyone was happy and waiting for that time.

And that's what we were doing. Waiting.

Later that evening, with Jace sleeping in my lap, I pulled my laptop and opened up messages from Optimus. He had sent about one message every day I was out, each day begging for a response to tell him I was okay. The most recent was from a few hours prior.

'Optimus, I'm fine, don't worry. I lost my laptop charger… It turns out Ben decided to use it as a play snake. He really misses his toys…'

_And you didn't find another one? Brooke you had me worried sick. These terrorists are after you and you don't have the decency to tell me you're safe? I was worried for your safety! _

Wow, was he yelling at me? Was this our first fight? 'Whoa, whoa, whoa Optimus calm down. From now on, I promise I'll message you every day, okay?'

_Okay, Brooke. I am sorry for overreacting. I am very worried for you. If something happened to you… I don't know what I would do. I already feel guilty for having left you on Earth. _

'I know, Optimus. I understand your worry. But relax, it won't be too long until I am in a secure location and I'll be with you, going to New Cybertron!'

_I know. I am so excited to see you again. And to kiss you again. We're putting the ship on full speed so we may be a few weeks early._

'That's great! I'm so ready! I have some surprises for you :) Can you believe it's been almost a year since I last saw you?'

_That's too long. I have been counting the days. And I can't wait to see the surprises you have for me._ I'm sure he would be surprised when I greeted him in Cybertronian!

Jace soon began to squirm and start to wake up. He hadn't been fed lately and I needed to give him dinner, which would be my first experience breast feeding.

'Dinner is ready, Optimus, and I have to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?'

_Alright. I love you._

'I love you too.'

I called for my mom and she came in and taught me how to breast feed Jace. It went perfectly smooth and was quite the learning experience for me.

Jace proved to be a quick learner. Through next two weeks, I taught Jace how to walk and talk, both of which he learned very quickly. Ironhide explained that Cybertronian children knew how to walk and talk by the time they were born, which explained the quick learning. His growth was also fast, with his four short weeks of life making him look like a four month old. He hadn't perfected walking and talking but he was able to stand on his own for a few seconds and spoke basic English and Cybertronian words.

The Cybertronian world was completely open to Jace. Ironhide (Uncle Hide, as we referred to him) and Mirage always transformed near him so he would be used to their race. He loved everything about them and, surprisingly, Mirage took to him pretty well.

Ben quickly became close friends with Jace, since he was the closest one to his age. He loved telling them stories about the other Autobots, especially Bumblebee.

One night, I decided to tell Jace about his father. I was lying down in the bed with him, trying to calm him down so he could go to sleep. But he refused to go until I told him a story.

"Jace, how about I tell you about your father?" I asked him. Jace cocked his head at me.

"Daddy?" he said.

"Yes, daddy. You're going to meet him soon. He's been at our new home, getting it ready for us. His name is Optimus," I explained to him.

"O-Optimus," he said slowly.

"There you go!" I was so proud at how smart he was. "Now come on, lay down and try to sleep." Jace curled up into me and signed.

"Is daddy like Uncle Hide?" he asked me.

I smiled and kissed his forehead. "Yeah, he is like Uncle Hide. He's even taller, and even bigger than Uncle Hide!" I told him.

"I heard that!" Ironhide yelled from down the hall. Jace giggled into my chest.

"Okay, come on, sleep," I told him. He got comfy and I began to sing him the Cybertronian lullaby. It was pretty depressing, seeming as how it was a song about the children asking someone to save their home, Iacon. But it had a melody similar to 'Frere Jacques' and it was in Cybertronian, so it helped teach him. He fell asleep almost instantly and I sat there, stroking his blond hair. I felt his little chest rising and falling against mine and it made me get sleepy. This child, my son, was so perfect and I'm so glad this all happened. When I first found out I was pregnant, I was so worried and filled with anxiety. I even thought of stopping the pregnancy. But now, looking down at this beautiful life I created… I don't know how I got so lucky.

But it was nothing but the calm before the storm as I fell asleep.

* * *

><p><em>This chapter was rather short as it was more of a filler chapter. As she said, it is the calm before the storm!<em>  
><em>So, we see the birth of Jace Orion Pax! And it isn't much longer until our group is on their way to New Cybertron! But, of course, it isn't going to be that easy. This story has definitely gone in another direction from what I originally planned; I originally planned for Brooke to die in childbirth! But of course, she's stronger than that!<br>Also everyone! All of my sources for the Cybertronian language and songs comes from doveart. . It is not the official pronunciations but I figure it will work for the story_


	16. The Big Guns

Finally it was time and we were going to be picked up in two days. Everyone was packing up and the house began to feel empty, as it was before. Ed and Nicholas wouldn't be alone for long though; their family decided to have their reunion at their house so it would soon be filled yet again with the stomp of soldiers and the patter of young feet.

"Mama, mama!" Jace yelled out in his crib while I was putting clothes in a small duffle bag. "Where we going?"

"We," I began, turning to look at him, "are off to a faraway place so we can see your daddy!" He must have like that because he smiled a big grin and his bright blue eyes seemed to sparkle.

"Hey you two, ready for your lesson?" Ironhide asked as he entered our room.

I sighed and fell back on my bed. "Now?" I groaned. Ironhide chuckled and moved to pick up Jace. He stretched out his arms and gladly was picked up.

"Come on, don't you want to fluently speak Cybertronian?" he asked me.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Jace answered.

"Well, that solves it!" Ironhide grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder. He then dragged me to the living room while others in the house snickered at my predicament. Finally he dumped me on the couch and sat down with Jace in his lap.

"Excuse me sir, I am a Prime. How dare you drop me like that?" I yelled. Ironhide just ignored me. I never really pulled the Prime card so I don't think anyone took it seriously.

We started learning the basics in review for Jace. His language wasn't perfect but he was getting the gist. I wondered where Akila was, since she sometime sat in on the lessons so she could learn as well. But it wasn't long before Mirage came bursting into the house.

"They're coming!" he screamed. Ironhide placed Jace on the couch and stood up. I stood up as well.

"What do you mean? Who?" I asked.

"Those Warrior guys! There at five cars full of them!" he yelled. My world froze. They found us. If they got to Jace… I don't know what they would do to him.

But I had to keep my cool and start a battle plan. "Ironhide, Mirage, go hide. We'll try to hold them off by ourselves and I'll give the order when I want you guys to come out, okay?" I ordered. Ironhide nodded. "Mirage, I'm going to tell some to stay indoors. If it gets bad, I want you to grab everyone and go, okay? Call Ackerman and get them to safety." Mirage agreed and the two holoforms disappeared.

I rounded up everyone in the living room and told them what was going on. Jace, feeling the tension in the room, began to cry. I had to grab him and bounce him on my hip while I made a plan.

"Ed, do you have any guns?" I asked him.

"Are you kidding me? I have enough to arm the nation."

"Okay, so everyone go get geared up. Mom, Sarah, Annabelle, and Michaela, you all stay inside to protect Jace and Ben. If it gets bad, Mirage is going to get you guys and bring you to a safe location. Keep safe," I said. With that, we all went to the cellar to arm ourselves.

Ed hadn't visited his basement in a long time, and it showed. It was dark and musty, with only one dangling light in the middle of the room, with a flashing bulb. But he certainly wasn't lying about how many weapons he had. One wall was covered in machine guns, one with hand guns, and another with other tactical weapons like vests and grenades. At the bottom of each gun wall was boxes full of ammo. Will, Ed, and Nicholas all grabbed military-grade automatic weapons while Sam, Akila, and I all had handguns. I got my most favorite thing, which was a double gun holster on either side of my hips. We each grabbed bulletproof vests and then ran back upstairs to get ready for them to come. We gave my mom a small handgun to protect themselves if needed. But if I had my way, it wasn't needed.

Outside, we each chose a spot to find cover. Akila and I hid behind a large oak tree. Nicholas was in charge of guarding the door. Will used a window to get on the roof of the house and took cover behind the brick chimney. Ed and Sam were behind the trucks. I could see Ironhide and Mirage hidden in the deep shade of the forest.

We barely got into our spots when the five black SUVs came roaring up on the dark road. Soldiers piled out, covered head to toe in armor. Finally I saw him: Ryan Pace. He had a hand gun on his hip and dark sunglasses on. I slowly poked out my gun and focused it right at his head. "Are you sure about this?" Akila asked me. I froze. Was I? I had never killed a human before. I've never ended a life. Sure, I killed Megatron and Starscream, but I didn't see them as lives, only full embodiments of evil. But this man was going to threaten my family, my friends, and my son.

"I'm sure," I said and lined up the sights on him. My finger rested on the trigger and I took a deep breath.

"If you're going to do it, you need to do it now," Akila said. I looked around and realized the soldiers were about ready to storm the house.

I pulled the trigger. But right as it pulled down, I flinched and the bullet hit the car right near Pace's head. But that one shot was the shot heard 'round the world, because metal began to fly back and forth.

I took cover next to Akila and listened as bullets whizzed by my head. Finally I looked out and quickly shot at a soldier I saw. He stepped back but then resumed shooting. "Their armor is really strong! I just hit one square in the chest and nothing!" Akila yelled.

"I know!" I yelled as I tried to shoot again. I looked over and everyone else was having a hard time as well. One soldier was getting very close to the front door. I quickly outstretched my hand and tried to send electricity to him. I could see the shock hit him, but it didn't affect him. Great, more rubber suits. Luckily, before the soldier got close to the door, Nicholas whipped him with the butt of his weapon and went back to his post.

"Time to call in the big guns?" I asked Akila. She nodded to me while she continued to try and cause any damage she could.

"Autobots!" I screamed towards the woods. As soon as I said that, the two mechs ran into battle, letting off bullets left and right. As I was watching them, I suddenly felt an intense pain on my left arm. I quickly grabbed my arm and slumped down against the tree.

"Brooke! Are you alright?" Akila yelled, stopping shooting to look at me.

"I'm fine," I muttered. Then I looked up at Akila and saw a man right behind her. "Watch out!" The man then hit her in the back of the head and she fell over, unconscious. "Akila!" I screamed. The man took a step towards me but was then pulled away by a large metal hand. He was then thrown into the house where he landed with a large thud. Ironhide then ran back to us.

"Is she okay?!" he yelled. He was panicking. I moved and looked at Akila to see she was still breathing, just unconscious.

"She's fine Ironhide! Go, protect everyone! I got her," I told him. He reluctantly agreed and went back to fighting. I sat Akila up with her back against the tree and grabbed my guns, ready to protect her. My arm was bleeding and the blood was dripping down, but I ignored it to protect my sister. Will saw that I was hurt and Akila was unconscious, so he was working on keeping the people away from us. The loss of blood was making me a bit dizzy but I couldn't focus on it.

But finally I saw these five solders with these metal ropes. They managed to run around and under Ironhide and finally tugged, which brought him down to the ground. They then continued to wrap the ropes around him and around his neck. Ironhide struggled but he couldn't break them.

"What the frag is this? Let me go!" he screamed. I knew that with Ironhide down, we didn't have much of a chance. I cried out for Mirage. I needed to get Jace out of here. But when I looked around for him, I saw he was being taken down as well. When both of them were down, all of the soldiers went back to where Pace stood.

"Come out, and we won't shock the sparks out of your friends," Pace screamed. I looked at everyone and they all knew we were defeated. I stumbled my way up and walked out from the tree. Everyone else followed suit. "Drop your weapons and hands in the air," he ordered. I put both of my guns down on the ground and put my guns down. When I did this, I was able to get a good look at the soldiers. I recognized a few of them as ex-members of N.E.S.T., which explains why they knew so much about the transformers.

"Good girl! See how much easier things are when you listen to me? Nice little hideout you found here. A very good effort!" he applauded. "You five, go round them up. You three, search the house." Search the house. _No._ The three men went inside while the others grabbed all of us and lined us up. One man found Akila behind the tree and dragged her unconscious body to us.

"You get your hands off of her!" Ironhide screamed.

Pace raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is this yet another interspecies relationship?" he said, walking over to Akila. He then kicked her in the side with his black boot. "Disgusting."

"I swear to Primus, you lay one more hand on her and I'll rip you limb from limb!" Ironhide screamed. This just made Pace laugh.

"I don't think you're in a position to be making threats, friend! One flip of the switch, and I sent 200 volts along your entire body," he threatened. Ironhide gritted his teeth.

Suddenly we heard the sound of a gunshot inside the house. It wasn't long, however, before everyone was being forced out of the house. Jace and Ben were in the arms of the agents. Seeing Jace with tears in his bright blue eyes made sparks fly from my hands. How dare he put his hands on my child! I stepped forward, ready to strike at Pace but as soon as I went in to attack, a sharp pain went through my wound and I fell on my knees.

"Oh, and who is this little boy? I don't think I've met him yet!" Pace said, obviously knowing that my reaction wasn't just for anyone.

"I swear to God, you lay one _finger_ on him, and I'll send 200 volts through _you_!" I screamed.

"James, bring him here!" Pace yelled. The man who was holding him pushed Ben away, who quickly ran to Michaela. He then walked over to Pace and handed him over. "What's your name, son?" he asked.

"J-Jace Pax," he answered. I would normally applaud him for being so polite, but now was definitely not the time.

"Jace Pax?" Pace mentioned. "Pax… Where have I heard that name before?"

"Orion Pax, sir!" yelled out a man who was a former N.E.S.T. member. I believe his name was Adam.

"Ah yes, Orion Pax, the original name of the famed Optimus Prime before he earned the title of Prime. Does that mean…?" He looked Jace right in the face and saw his bright blue eyes. He then looked at me. "Why Brooke, aren't you a little too young to have a child?" he said.

"You leave him alone!" I screamed. Jace cried out and squirmed to get near me, but Pace held him back. My insides were furious, seeing that man with my child in his arms.

"Alright, let's go!" Pace yelled, handing Jace back to the man who originally held him. He then took him and dragged him to one of the cars, where the soldiers were loading up.

"You bring my son back, right now!" I screamed at him. I tried to move but the pain in my arm was unbearable.

"Oh, don't worry! You're coming too," he said, and a soldier came and handcuffed me. He did it very roughly and I had to scream out in pain.

"Mommy!" Jace screamed out.

"Just let him go!" my mom yelled out. "He's just a baby!" Pace was deaf to her as he got in the same car as Jace. I was thrown in the trunk of another car and it was shut on me. It wasn't long after until we started to drive off. I sat up and looked out the back window to see Will running after me and screaming.

"Will!" I screamed out. He was giving the car a good race until I heard a gunshot ring out. He fell on his knees so fast I couldn't see where he was shot. Tears welled up in my eyes; a combination of the pain in my arm, the fact that they had my son, and seeing Will shot. Soon the house fell out of view.

"I can't believe you actually had a child with Optimus," the former N.E.S.T. agent said. I remembered her voice from a few battles but her name and face left me.

"I can't believe you betrayed the Autobots," I told her. "They trusted you and now you're helping out a resistance against them? How dare you, with all of the times they've saved your life!"

"He's an _alien, _Brooke. I was in the delusion they were good too but now I realize how much danger they are. They brought you, a 16 year old girl, into battles with Decepticons? That's reckless and irresponsible! And now they brought this, this, _thing_ into the world? It's weird!" she said.

Whoa whoa whoa. _Thing?_ "Don't you dare refer to my child as a thing! He's a living, breathing being! He's smart and sees the world as an innocent place, and you're about to ruin it for him!" She didn't respond after that. No one did.

We drove to the airport and two King Air 350 jets were waiting on us. They opened the trunk for me to get out and, when I did, someone hit me on the head. I fell to the cement of the floor and my world went black.

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><p><em>They're baaack! R&amp;R please!<em>


	17. Why Me?

I woke up with my wrists and ankles tied to a seat in the plane. My bullet wound was wrapped in a bandage but still stung. When my vision cleared up, I looked in front of me to see Pace with my son in his lap. He had a toy, and Jace was quite enjoying it, as I could feel waves of joy through our bond.

"Ah, good morning Brooke," Pace greeted. "Your son is quite the energetic type, isn't he?"

"Pace I swear-"

"Come now, it isn't good to swear in front of children."

My blood was boiling. He was using Jace against me.

"Now tell me, where have all of the Autobots disappeared to lately?" he asked me.

"Why should I tell you?" I growled. Pace jus continued to dangle the toy in front of Jace, which made him laugh.

"This boy will be a great Warrior one day," Pace mentioned. A Warrior? He's _my_ son, he's an Autobot! He couldn't be serious about taking my son and making him a Warrior!

"You're going to let me go," I demanded. Of course, he probably wouldn't let me tell him anything. "You're going to let me go and give me my son."

Pace just laughed at my demands. "I don't think you're in the position to tell me what to do, my dear. No matter, I'll get the information out of you soon enough," he said, which made my shudder.

I didn't talk for the rest of the plane ride, only looked out the window, wondering why God or Primus or whomever had _this_ in His plan for me. Why should I be forced to sit here and watch one of my deadliest enemies play with my child as if it was his? Well, I guess it could be worse. It could be Megatron holding Jace. That made me shudder again. Jace will never, ever meet Megatron. Ever.

But still. Why _me_?

Finally, the plane began to descend and we landed in a concrete runway on the edge of a city. I couldn't tell what state we were in. When we landed, Pace left with Jace in his arms while soldiers came and unbounded me, just to re-handcuff me. I didn't fight; I couldn't. It wasn't just me anymore; I had to watch after Jace.

Outside of the plane was a small building that looked like it only had room for one small office. Was this really their headquarters? It couldn't be! It was so… wimpy. They dragged me into the office and there was a blond woman in a pencil skirt stood up.

"Hello, sir! No new news to report," she said with a big grin.

"Thank you, now sit back down," Pace barked. She looked down and went back to her desk. I looked around the office, looking for a way to escape. The front wall was made entirely of glass, which would help for an escape. On the left wall was a small, regular sized elevator. On the right was a large lift, wide enough to fit a car in. The small elevator opened and we all crowded in. Jace was still playing with the colorful toy in his hand. There were about fifteen buttons in the elevator which made me realize: _their base was underground. _The soldiers pressed two buttons, one on the next level down and one all the way at the bottom. When we got down to the floor below the top floor, I could see a large, executive office. Pace left the elevator with Jace.

"Mommy?" Jace asked, his big blue eyes looking back at me.

"No! Please!" I screamed, shoving against the two soldiers who held me in place. One of them I didn't recognize, but the other was the female soldier who was a member of N.E.S.T."Please don't take him from me!" Pace just chucked, like the devil he is. I was reduced to groveling. "Don't do this! Jace!" The elevator doors started closing and Pace turned his back to me. Jace looked over his shoulder and held his little hand out for me. I fell down to my knees and my eyes watered. "No… please…" The doors shut and the last thing I saw were Jace's bright blue eyes begging for me.

A tear fell from my eyes. How could they be so cruel? Why was this _my_ life? Why couldn't I have just been a normal teenager, who's only worries were zits and college applications. But no, my worries were about the blood-lusting criminal who captured my son.

The elevator moved down to the far basement level. It was dim and musky and basically your cliché dungeon. The soldiers roughly dragged me into it and shackled my ankle to a chain in the wall.

"The chain can be triggered. One attempt to escape and your foot will be chopped off, Autobot scum," the male soldier said with an evil chuckle.

"Danny, shut it. Let's go," the female said. From seeing her face, I remembered her name. She was an Asian girl, born in Japan and raised in America. Her name was Jade. They unbound my handcuffs and then left on the elevator. I was alone.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and cried into my arms. Would anyone be able to find me? I wouldn't even be able to find me! And what did Pace mean when he said he'll 'get the information out of me'?

Suddenly, I heard a noise in the darkness. I jumped up and wiped my tears. I got my electricity built up in my hands. "Show yourself!" I yelled into the darkness.

"Easy there, I'm a friendly." Out of the darkness came a Cybertronian, but this one was a female. The only other female Autobot I had ever met was Arcee. She had pink armor and her eyes shone blue.

"Autobot or Decepticon?" I asked. I had to be sure.

"Autobot," she said. "I'm Elita One."

"Elita One?" I remembered reading about her in the Autobot archives. It had said she died in the battle in Egypt. "But, you're supposed to be dead!"

Elita sat down near me and I could see that she also had a chain on her leg. Well, her one wheel. She looked very similar to Arcee, which made me remember that Arcee, Elita One, and another deceased Autobot named Chromia were sisters. "I was very badly injured in Egypt, yes. I was on the brink of death. But then, I was dragged away. The Warriors caught me, healed me, and I've been here ever since," she explained. Wow, it's been eleven years since Egypt, and she was still here.

"I have so many questions for you," Elita said. "What is your name? Why did they call you an Autobot? How do you have electricity in your hands? Why were you crying?"

I nodded and wiped away the last of the tear streams with my sleeve. "My name's Brooke Walters. I was actually there, in Egypt. Of course, I was only seven then. When the Matrix was dust form, some of it got in my eye and that gave me its power, which included the electricity. When I was 16, Megatron stole my mother and tried to use me to power-up a long-lost Autobot, Sentinel Prime. Only, he made a deal with the Decepticons and it would have been bad for everyone. So I used the Matrix to destroy Sentinel, Starscream, and Megatron."

"Wait, _you_ killed Megatron?" she interrupted.

I chuckled. "I know, hard to believe. Well anyway, after his defeat, the Autobots decided to build a home on a new planet, far from here. Most of them left to build when the Warriors began to emerge. Now… Now they captured me within days of the Autobots coming back. And I was crying because… well, they took my son," I told her.

"They took your son?! That's despicable! What would they want with him?" she asked.

"Well, he's half-Cybertronian, so I worry that they will try to experiment on him," I muttered. Thinking of Jace being experimenting on made me so scared. I couldn't imagine him screaming out for me...

"Half-Cybertronian? Who is his father?"

"Optimus Prime," I told her. Elita's optics widened. "What's wrong?"

"Optimus and I were bonded," Elita muttered. Whoa, what? They were bonded? "Of course, the bond was strongest before Optimus gained the title of Prime, back when he was Orion Pax and I was Ariel. When he became a Prime, he took the role so seriously that our bond weakened. When we were separated during the war, it weakened even more. And when everyone thought me to be dead in Egypt, it was completely severed."

"So he's like… your ex?" I asked.

"Precisely. But still, I'm glad he found you, Brooke. He obviously loves you, if he impregnated you," she said.

Ew, no. _Impregnate_? What a gross word. "Jace's birth was more of an unplanned event. He and a bonded a few days before he left for New Cybertron. Months later, I found out I was pregnant. He doesn't know yet," I explained.

I was glad to have Elita One there with me. She kept me from going insane with worry over Jace's condition. Over our bond, I didn't feel any pain, which made me relax. Days blurred together, especially since I wasn't receiving any sunlight. I got one meal a day, but it usually was very light, like half a sandwich or a small salad. I slowly grew weaker and lost more weight with the lack of food. Elita and I spent the time telling old war stories.

I wondered when Optimus and the others would arrive on Earth. Had they already arrived? I couldn't tell. Part of my time was also trying to get _someone_ to answer me on why my life was like this. Why I had to endure such tragedy and why an innocent little boy had to be involved in this.

I needed some kind of hope.

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><p><em>Short chapter today, making way for a very large, very disturbing chapter tomorrow. I'm leaving for vacation in three days and my goal is to upload four chapters before I leave, since I have planned out for those. I'm also planning for the end of this story and the beginning of the next one. <em>


	18. Death of a Thousand Cuts

**_WARNING!_**_ This chapter is very brutal. I got a little disturbed just writing it. So just brace yourselves._

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><p>My sleep schedule had gotten off since I was put in the dark basement. Well, at least, I think it was off. I couldn't really tell what was night and what was day. But most of my time was either spent sleeping (which I had a lack of since giving birth to Jace) or talking to Arcee. The meals were not scheduled, which made me think that I was only given food when people remembered. Elita One was given a dose of energon every once in a while, enough to keep her alive, she told me, but still weak.<p>

Through our bond, all I could feel was happiness from Jace. Obviously they were keeping him entertained. But, of course, there were still waves of fear from not having me there. It made me happy they weren't experimenting with him.

Finally one day, the soldiers came but without any food; this time, they came with handcuffs. After they handcuffed me, they unbound my ankle and dragged me into the elevator.

I was taken ten floors up to a white room with bright lights that burned my eyes. It smelled stale, like a hospital. Men in white coats were running around, scrambling to do something. I was taken to the back room with a glass observation window and a wooden chair. My handcuffs were taken off and I was strapped in to the chair with leather straps on my wrists, ankles, and stomach. The soldiers left and I was alone. My body was aching from the weight loss and I couldn't do anything but sit and let my eyes adjust to such bright light. There were still no windows, so I couldn't tell if it was early morning or late at night.

Then Pace walked in, flanked by two scientists.

"Where is my son?" I asked, not as furious as I was before. I didn't have enough energy to be furious. "What are you doing with him?"

"Relax, Brooke. If we hurt him, you would have felt it through your bond. Besides, we are only doing a few experiments. Nothing too bad until he gets older," he explained. Until he gets older? How long did they think they were going to keep him? "We want to know more about the transformers so we can better be prepared to battle them. And with this new species fighting on their side, we need to know about them too."

"Fighting?! He isn't even a year old! He doesn't understand anything about his Cybertronian side!" I yelled. Of course, it was a lie, considering he knew both English and Cybertronian. But the more human they thought Jace was, the better.

"Sir, we need to get on with the test," one of the scientists said. Test? What test?!

"Ah, yes, get her ready while I explain," Pace ordered. The two scientists moved to put this metal helmet on my head and strap it to my chin. "You see Brooke, we know about your powers. Now we are just wondering how much electricity you can withstand. So, tell us when you feel some pain." He had this gross smile on his face, like he was excited to see me in pain. To be honest, I had never gotten electrified. I had redirected lightning before with no damage to my innards, and I doubt there was a way for them to get above one billion volts.

"Sir, we're ready," the scientist said. The three left and went outside to the viewing window where the one scientist put her hand on a dial. "Ten volts, sir," she said. I felt nothing. "Fifty." Still, nothing. "One hundred." "Five hundred." "One thousand volts!" They were all looking stunned. I just sat there, not feeling any pain. But I did feel something. I was like… a battery being charged. My body still felt weak, but it seemed as if my inside was absorbing the shock rather than insulating it. "Two thousand?" the scientist said questionably.

Pace looked angry, which made me smirk at him. "We're done here," he growled and stomped off. The two scientists ran into the room and, wearing rubber gloves, removed the helmet from my head. Did I really just get put in an electric chair? Like the ones they used to execute people in?

Sadly, all of these things were _not_ on my bucket list.

The scientists then used a needle to draw blood from my arms, because they obviously couldn't just get it off of my blood-soaked clothes. After they took the blood, the soldiers came back in and took the bindings off then, yet again, handcuffed me. My wrists were getting real tired of these tight cuffs.

The soldiers dragged me into the elevator and this time I was taken down three floors. The floor was more of a small metal room, with a metal desk and metal chair. The soldiers, however, didn't have me sitting in a chair. Running near the top of the wall was a metal bar that ran the surface of the wall. They un-cuffed one of my hands and cuffed it up to the bar. They then pulled out another set of cuffs and cuffed my other arm to the bar. And there I was, chained up and covered in blood covered clothes, completely unable to move.

The soldiers left the room and I attempted to escape any way I could. I slid the cuffs all along the bar but I couldn't reach anything. Then I attempted to shock the cuffs, but that didn't do anything but electrify the metal bar. I could hear the elevator dinging, which meant someone was coming. I stopped moving and glared at the elevator.

In comes Pace with a large knife in his hands. "Have you ever heard of torture, Brooke?" he asked.

Oh no.

He pulled up and chair and lifted his feet up on the table while toying with the knife. "It's a very effective way of getting information out of criminals. Humans have been using torture for millennia. Tell me, did you pay attention in history class?" he asked.

"I was a little busy saving the world," I remarked.

"Figures," he said. "Around the year 900, the Chinese had a form of public death. It was called the 'Death of a Thousand Cuts.'" He walked up to me and dragged the tip of the knife on my skin. "The practice involved cutting away whole sections of the skin until the victim slowly dies an excruciating death. And sometimes, it ends with," he ran the knife over my throat, "beheading." He then walked away and sat on the table. "Of course, this act was banned in 1905. But the method of slow slicing really helps get information. Now tell me, where did the Autobots go?"

I kept my mouth shut. "If you think I'm gonna talk, you're seriously mistaken," I growled. Pace chuckled and brought the knife back to my skin. Then I felt a pain on my wrists as he sliced the knife in, like slicing bread. I scrunched my nose and squeezed my eyes shut. If I told him about New Cybertron and how the humans were welcome, he and his soldiers would become domestic terrorists and try to stop people from going to New Cybertron. He dug the knife deeper into my arm and then began to drag it down to my elbow. Everywhere the knife went left a deep, bleeding wound.

"Tell me where they are," Pace growled. "I am not in the mood for games!" I spit at his feet. His knife went further and re-opened the bullet wound that had closed. Blood was running down and my arm went numb. He moved to my other arm and began to make slices in that one too. A tear ran down my face as the pain became almost too much to handle. Finally, he placed the knife in my forearm and tilted it, to carve out a small section of my skin. I screamed out in pain as he just looked me in the eyes. He placed the knife deep in another section and tilted it, but before he could carve my like a pumpkin, I finally had to tell him. I couldn't feel either arms.

"New Cybertron!" I yelled out. Pace pulled the knife out of my arm. "They are establishing a new planet… KOI something… Once it is developed, they're going to allow humans to come." He pulled back from me. Thank goodness. The room was so silent I could hear my blood dripping onto the floor. My cheeks were red from biting them.

"Now, name for me all of the Autobots," he asked.

"Ironhide, Mirage, and Optimus Prime," I told him. Those were the only ones he ever saw, so I assumed I could get out of that question quick.

"How dare you lie to me!" he screamed, and plunged the knife deep into the outer part of my thigh. I screamed out and tried not to move against the knife, but my leg couldn't help but tense up, which made the knife feel even worse. "Tell me their names!" he screamed. Tears were streaming down my face now.

"Ironhide, Mirage, Optimus," I said through tears, "Bumblebee, Knockout, Soundwave, Ratchet, Arcee, Skids, Mudflap, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Prowl! Those are all I know, I swear!" He pulled the knife out and I could still feel the sting of the sharp metal in my skin. "Please, please no more," I begged as I hung my head low. I was slowly losing feeling in my left leg as more blood came out. I worried about dying from blood loss.

"Lastly," he said, "when will the Autobots be coming back for you and your friends?" No. No, I couldn't tell him that. If I did that, I would put my entire family, blood and extended, in danger of what was happening to me now. I couldn't put them through that.

Pace put the knife on my stomach. "I know exactly how to put this knife in you so you don't die, only feel the worst pain you can imagine. Tell me where they are landing or else," he growled. Tears were flowing out and all I could do was shake my head. "Have it your way then," he said, and stabbed the knife deep into my stomach. It was, indeed, the most pain I have ever felt in my life. It was worse than the pain of all the past multiplied. "Now, now, don't squirm. If you cause me to hit a vital organ, I can't promise you will survive," he teased. I tried to not move but I was taking sharp, deep breaths against the pain.

"Please stop, please," I sobbed out.

"Tell me where they are going to be and when!" he screamed, putting the knife in deeper. It was all the way to the hilt. "Tell me or I will start twisting the knife!" I fought against it but then it started to tilt. If he stabbed something, I was done for.

"Alright!" I screamed. "Latitude 63, longitude 100. They were supposed to come… September 10. But I don't know if the plans changed or they got slowed down. I don't even know what day it is! Please, make it stop!" He pulled the knife out of my and I stayed there, leaking blood and sobbing.

"Why, why, why," I just muttered to no one. Why?

"To rid the Earth of this alien scum," Pace answered. I wasn't even asking him.

The elevator opened and the two scientists from before exited with syringes. Pace sat on the desk again, using a towel to wipe the blood off of his knife. I watched through blurry eyes as the two scientists quickly stuck me with the syringes, one in my chest, one in my leg, and one in each arm. I barely even felt them, as they were nowhere near the pain I just experienced. My usual two soldiers came in the room, the guy and Jade. When Jade saw me, she gasped.

"Shut up soldier, you're paid to kill these scum," Pace threatened. Jade put her head down and went to take my handcuffs off. When the man went to cuff my arms, Jade protested.

"Look at her. She's close to bleeding to death, do you really think those are needed?" she asked. Then I heard a thump and looked over to see Jade pinned against the wall, Pace's knife at her neck.

"Don't tell me you're going soft on me, soldier? Because I can give you her same punishment," he threated.

"N-No, sir!" Jade said. Pace backed off of her and she put the cuffs on me, but not as tight as they usually were.

They dragged me into the elevator but I had to limb, putting all of my weight on my right leg. My arms were killing me, especially being bound to my back. Finally I was loaded in the elevator and leaned against the back of it.

"What happens if I bleed to death?" I asked them.

"Those syringes were filled with a medicine that stops bleeding. You'll be fine," the male said with distain. I was going to make a sassy reply back, but I was too weak and in too much pain.

They took me back to the basement and chained me up again. I was left in the dark to cry and try to numb out the pain.

"Brooke! Oh Primus, what happened to you?!" Elita cried as she ran towards me. "Pace," she growled.

"Elita, I'm sorry, but I really, really want to sleep right now," I told her. Elita nodded and moved away. I curled up in a ball and lay on the cold floor. Sleep came fast but didn't last long. I had nightmares of the torture and jumped awake.

"Brooke, are you hurting? Can I help?" Elita immediately asked.

"No, no, I'm fine. I need to get out of here. If they get to where the Autobots are going to land, my family could be in trouble," I told her.

"What did Pace do to you?"

"Well, first, he decided to test how much electricity I could withstand then…" Light bulb! "Wait, wait!" I stumbled my way up and Elita held out her hand for me to balance. "Step back," I told her, and she followed. I shot a little tiny bit of electricity out of my hands and almost 4x as much energy was expelled.

"Whoa what was that?!" Elita asked, stumbling away.

"They didn't think about charging me up," I said with a smirk. Then I looked at Elita. In her reflection, I could see my eyes glowing with charge. "We're getting out of here. Now!"

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><p><em>Well then, who hates Pace?! Like I said, I started to get disturbed just writing this. It was hard. But now it's over and Brooke has a way out! I Hope to have at least 3 chapters out within two days, before I go on vacation. So stay tuned! Also, reviews make my day 100x better, so please review!<em>


	19. Smooth Sailing

"We have to get out of here somehow," I muttered, looking down at my shackle. I don't know how I would escape, given my wounds from Pace, but I needed to get out, now.

"If you try to get out, it will cut your leg off. If I try, it will shock me and kill me," Elita said. Yeah thanks for the reminder.

I tried to think back on the things Pace said. Even when he was torturing me, he had no intention of killing me. That's when it clicked. "They wanted me alive and well for testing! Obviously I'm going to try and get out! So they made the whole leg cut off thing as an empty threat! If I can shock the chain enough, it should melt under the increased power of my shock!" I explained.

"And what if you're wrong? What if it chops off your foot! Humans can't grow those back!" Elita asked.

I looked down at my chained left foot, which was bare and covered in blood from Pace's stabbings. Luckily, the wounds stopped healing, but they were still open and covered in blood. But she had a point. What if I was wrong? Could I live without a foot?

My mind was going insane. I couldn't stay here any longer. Even if it meant losing my foot, I couldn't risk being tortured like that again. "My leg is still numb from the cuts… If it does end up cutting my foot off, it shouldn't be too bad. I need to get out of here, Elita," I told her. Elita nodded.

"I understand."

I nodded back at her then looked at the chain. I centered all of my electricity into my hands and aimed it at the chain. Bright light filled the dark basement and shot at the chain. This was it: time to test my theory. I wiggled my toes for what could be one last time. But then I saw exactly what I needed to: the metal was red hot and melting away.

Finally, it broke and I had my freedom. There was still a cuff around my ankle and two chains hanging off of it, but I could move. Now it was time to get Elita out.

"Alright Elita, I need you to use your strength to break the chain. I'll put my hand near the base of the chain and take any electricity it sends," I told her. She looked at me, skeptical. "Trust me," I told her. "I'm a Prime."

"Wait, you're a _what_?" she asked me. Did I forget to tell her? Whoops.

"Explain later! Let's go!" I told her as I grabbed the chain that bound her. Elita grabbed hold on the shackle on her wheel and began to pull. Electricity shot out of the wall through the chains but I quickly absorbed it. It was just like recharging again. Soon the shackle broke and she transformed into a pink 2014 BMW R1200RT. Nice and sleek.

I zapped electricity to the one light and it brightened, allowing us to see the entire room. Across from us, formerly hidden in the darkness, was the lift I saw when I first got here. "There!" I told her, and began to walk to the lift. But when I took one step, my leg gave out and I fell over. Elita zoomed up next to me.

"Get on. Your leg is looking worse," she said. She was right. The blood was caked on to my skin and it looked like it could get infected; same with my arms. And my stomach… My stomach was looking terrible. The shirt around it was soaked in blood and I still felt pain whenever I moved.

I climbed on her and she drove to the lift. I pressed the up button but it didn't light up. Slag. They must have turned off the power. But was that really a problem?

I placed my hand on the button and shot a bit of electricity into it. Soon the light went on and the door opened. Elita drove in and I looked at all the floors. That's where I froze. If I hit the highest floor, we could easily get out of here. But if I hit the second highest floor, we could get Jace at the risk of being caught again.

"Brooke," Elita said. "I understand. Let's go get your son." I smiled and nodded at her, then hit the level for Pace's office. I pray he wouldn't be there.

The elevator finally landed and opened the doors. Luckily, I was right and Pace wasn't there; only two soldiers, arms with guns. Sitting in Pace's seat was my blond son, his eyes wet with tears. Before the soldiers could comprehend what was going on, Elita zoomed out of the lift and knocked both of them onto their backs. I jumped off of her and, ignoring the pain shooting up my leg, grabbed them both in the back of the necks. I shot a bit of electricity down their spines and paralyzed them both.

"Mommy!" I looked over to see Jace taking wobbly steps towards me. He could walk?! It didn't matter, because when I wrapped my arms around him, I felt warm and safe. I kissed the top of his head, where his hair grew out a bit. Gosh, he looked so grow for being only a few weeks old. He looked like a toddler! His tears seemed to go away. "I kept feeling sadness! Like you were hurt!" Oh no. He felt the torture through the bond. It obviously was nowhere near as excruciating, but still.

"It's okay, baby, mommy's safe now," I consoled.

"Come on guys, we have to go," Elita reminded me. I picked Jace up and placed him on the front of the motorcycle, with his back to the front. I sat behind him, with my left arm holding him in place and my right arm gripping the handle. He dug his face into my shirt, even though he did notice the blood. Luckily it was dried so it didn't get all over him.

"Drive safe, Elita; I'm only holding on with one hand, and it's not exactly the strongest," I told her. She zoomed in to the elevator and I hit the button to the ground floor.

"Going out will be hard. After that, it's smooth sailing," Elita warned. I told Jace to hold on tight and he grabbed onto me while I tightened my grip on him. When the lift opened, Elita zipped out and crashed straight through the glass exterior, causing the blond desk girl to gasp in horror. I shielded Jace from the glass, but it gave me a few cuts. Well, a few more cuts. My body was covered in them.

Outside, it was nighttime, so my eyes didn't have to adjust much. It must have been late, because there were barely any cars on the road. Elita zoomed out of whatever city we were near until we got to a small town. She pulled into an alleyway and I got off of her with Jace.

"Mommy, look!" Jace said, and showed me a small cut on his arm. It must have been from the glass. I kissed it and used my shirt to wipe the blood away.

"Just a small boo-boo, nothing to be worried about," I told him. He tilted his head at me.

"Why do you have so many boo-boos, mommy?" he asked me. How could I explain this to Jace? I couldn't. There was no way.

I cupped his face and looked at his eyes, which glowed in the darkness of the night. "Don't worry about me, sweetie. We're safe now," I assured him.

Elita transformed from her alt form and Jace loved it. "Like Uncle Hide!" he said with a big grin.

Elita kneed down and smiled a warm smile at him. "It is nice to meet you, young one. I am Elita One," she introduced.

"Jace Orion Pax," he said with a grin. I smiled at the cute exchange, but we needed to get to business.

"I don't have my cell phone, so I have no way of getting in touch with anyone," I told her.

"And the Warriors destroyed my comm link, so I have no communications either," Elita added. Great. So we were stuck in an unknown town in an unknown state, with Warriors on our tail.

Jace's yawn got my attention as he looked around for somewhere to sleep. "It looks late at night. Why don't you go recharge and Jace can sleep. I'll keep watch," I told her.

"Are you sure? You look very weak."

"I'm fine. Even if I try to sleep, all I'll get is nightmares. You go ahead," I said. She nodded and switched into car form, going into stasis.

I leaned my back up against a pile of trash. Sure it wasn't the best thing to lie on, but it was comfier than anything else and probably smelled better than me. Jace climbed into my arms and snuggled into me, using my arm as a pillow. Soon his eyes were shut and I was left with nothing but the quietness of the night.

I looked up at the skies, where Optimus and the others might be. Well, maybe not, I wasn't exactly sure of the days. But still, he might be up there.

'_Oh Optimus,_' I thought, as if a silent prayer. '_I need you. I can't deal with the Warriors on my own. They almost killed me. I have so many questions, and you always seemed to answer them for me. You always made everything better. And trying to protect our son by myself? I barely made it out alive. All I'm saying is that I'm scared. I'm scared and hurt and scarred. And you don't even know. That's the scariest part. Just… I need to see you soon. And I will. I'll get to Russia and I'll see you. Jace and I will make it there safely. I swear to Primus._'

* * *

><p><em>Quick chapter tonight! I was debating on making this chapter and the next one large chapter, but then I decided against it. Some chapters are longer, some are shorter! Some big stuff coming up! <em>


	20. A Nice Little Reunion

The dawn light came hours later and it was really welcomed; I really missed the sunlight. The sky was a bright pink as the moon began to descend and the sun rose. I didn't sleep at all, just sat there and watched Jace's slow breathing. Sometimes I would try to shut my eyes, but every time I was reminded of the torture I endured. It always made me jump, which cause Jace to start to wake up. So after a few times, I just decided to give up on it. Nights spend without sleep were definitely boring ones, as all I could do was look up at the stars and wonder which of them was going to be my new home.

I heard an engine nearby and looked towards the entrance to the alleyway. A motorcycle zoomed past. Phew, nothing bad there.

But I was wrong. The rider reversed the bike then began to come down the alley.

"Elita! Wake up!" I yelled, standing up and grabbing Jace in my arms. Elita quickly transformed and pointed her guns at the assailant. I can't believe they found us so quickly!

The bike stopped and the rider got up. It was obviously a she, as she was dressed in a skin-tight black riding suit.

"The second she pulls out a gun, shoot her. Then we book it," I told Elita. She nodded.

The woman lifted her hands up to above her head and turned around, showing she had no weapons. Elita still didn't lower hers. Finally she took her helmet off and her long black hair fell down. I recognized her as Jade.

"Relax, I'm here to help you," she said. "When I saw how damaged you are and how they stole your son from you… I wanted to help. Before I left, I scrambled their tracking system. That should buy you about 12 hours. Here," she tossed me her cell phone, "use this to get somewhere safe."

She began to put her helmet back on but I placed Jace on the ground and stepped forward. "Wait, Jade!" I called to her. "The Warriors will be after you too. Come with us. Come to New Cybertron!"

"You would trust me? After I joined the Organic Warriors?" she asked me.

"Everyone deserves a second chance, Jade. You coming here and giving me your phone means you deserve that chance. Come on," I said. I really hoped she would come. Partially because having a fully healed adult on our side would be helpful.

Jade weighed her options then sat on her bike. "If it means a new life, count me in. Thank you… Prime," she said. I smiled at her.

"You know, you still haven't explained how you are a Prime," Elita said, putting her guns down.

"Well, you see, when I destroyed Megatron, I kind of died. And I met the Primes. They gave me a second chance and said that, since I had the Matrix inside of me, I was technically a Prime. Virimus Prime, to be exact," I explained. Elita's optics widened.

"So, where are we going?" Jade asked me. I quickly used her phone to google president Ackerman and find the number to his secretary. I quickly dialed the number.

"Hello, this is President Ackerman's secretary speaking, how may I help you?" she answered.

"It's Brooke Walters. I need to talk to Ackerman immediately." The phone was quickly shifted around and Ackerman's voice came on the speaker.

"Oh, my God, Brooke! It's so amazing to hear from you! I thought you were done for!" Oh, gee, thanks. "No, I mean, uh, whatever, what matters now is that you're safe! I've got a lock on the coordinates and I'm sending my best jet your way! It will land in about two hours at an airfield a mile away from your current location. I'll text the address to this phone. The jet will take you straight to our location! And don't worry about everyone, they all got here safely!" he told me. That was amazing news. Everyone was safe. And Will was obviously not hurt too bad from that bullet.

"I have two motorcycles with me, one Cybertronian and one not. Will they fit?" I asked him.

"Of course! The more the merrier! They will have to go in the cargo hold, but I'm sure the Autobot's holoform should be working properly! Well then, I will see you soon, my friend. Looks like you'll make it just in time for the Autobots arrival," he told me. No way. They haven't landed yet?

Wait. That reminded me. "Ackerman, I forgot to say… Pace got the location of the secure location out of me. I'll explain how later. You all could be in danger," I said.

Ackerman just laughed. "You really think they have enough money for big fancy jets? If they get near, it will be in a not-fancy jet or cars, and we'll be ready for them! You just get yourself here!" Ackerman was always so happy-go-lucky, which made me feel secure.

After I hung up the phone, I looked at the date. It seems I was captive for about three weeks, which wasn't that bad, considering. Then the phone got a text message with the address. I plugged it into the maps and gave it back to Jade.

"We need to get to that airfield. A jet is going to pick us up in about two hours," I told them. Elita transformed back into her vehicle form and I got onto it, with my sleepy son curled up into me. Jade put on her helmet and we rolled out. Traffic was beginning to pick up in the small town, but nothing too bad. It wasn't a long drive and eventually we made it, with more than enough time to spare. I was starting to get hungry, but hopefully they would have some sort of food on the plane. Jace looked hungry too. But he was being entertained by Jade while Elita and I watched on.

"So, tell me about Optimus and you?" I asked her. "I've only known him for three years, and one of those years he was on another planet."

"Well, like I said. We were close before he was a Prime. But when he became one, it all became about work, work, work. Our first kiss was in the hallway of a war meeting on Cybertron," Elita said with a laugh. I had to laugh as well.

"Well our first kiss was him trying to convince me to stay away from battle with Megatron," I told her. "I guess he has a thing for kisses in high-tension times." I leaned back and put my hands behind my head. "I'm excited for New Cybertron. We already have a huge house there and everything."

"I'm excited as well," she said. "Who knows? Maybe I'll find another mech and help to start a new generation on Cybertron."

I rubbed her wheel. "I hope so, friend."

"So what," Jade asked, "the girlfriend and the ex-girlfriend bonding?"

"I'd hardly use the term _girlfriend_, but if you would like to use that terminology, then yes," Elita said. I laughed at how true it was. Bond mate was really more than just girlfriend.

"So what's your story, Jade?" I asked her. I really didn't know much about her background.

She came and stood near us. "What's there to tell? I was born in Japan and sent to an orphanage. Then I was shipped off to the good ole' US of A for adoption, but they ended up dumping me on the streets. I went to public school and lived in a homeless shelter. When I was of age, I immediately joined the military, since that was the only way I could get a college degree. Then I got hooked up with N.E.S.T. and worked there till the government stopped funding. Afterwards, Pace came to me… He was able to convince me about his big plan but… you changed my mind, Brooke. So now here I am!" she explained. Wow, nice life story.

We spent the next two hours just talking and playing with Jace. Finally, we saw the jet in the distance and it landed on the runway. It was a large black jet with a stairway leading up to it. The pilot, a tall Spanish man in a black suit, welcomed us all on board.

Elita and Jade's bike went into the cargo hold while Jade, Jace, and I all entered the jet. The seats were very nice and very comfy. It didn't take long before we were in the air. Flight time: 15 hours.

Elita's holoform looked very pretty, which made me pretty jealous. She had long curly pink hair that went down to her butt. She wore a pink blouse and white pants. I was feeling pretty self-conscious, because here she was, this model in heels, and here I was, this teen covered in blood. Plus she was so nice…

But then I looked at Jace, who was being tightly buckled by the pilot. He reminded me so much of Optimus. They especially had the same eyes.

"Everyone please sit down, we're going to take off," the pilot said after he got Jace strapped in. I sat in the seat across from him and Jade and Elita sat next to us.

The jet was very fast and it didn't take long for us to be in the air. There was a map of our flight on a television, which showed the flight time would be 15 hours. It turned out, the city the base was on the edge on was Little Rock, Arkansas.

Jace loved being up in the sky and kept pointing at the skies. Eventually we reached the ocean and he became less interested. We used the television to put on a movie for him, which ignited his interest again. In the cabin were granola bars, which Jace and I ate. For Jace, it wasn't really much, but it helped. For me, two granola bars was all I needed to feel full.

After my fill, I leaned back in my chair and shut my eyes. I wasn't trying to sleep, since I couldn't, but I certainly needed it. I hadn't slept in two days and I was very weak from the loss of blood.

As we crossed into Europe, it got later and later in the evening. Eventually when we reached Russian airspace, it was very dark. It was also very freezing, which didn't help considering I was wearing blood-soaked cargo pants and tank top. I would be running inside the base as soon as I got there.

Finally we made it and it was the dead of night. We all strapped back into our seats and it was a rough landing. But finally we stopped and I looked out the window to see the brightly lit base. At the entrance to the base was my entire family, waiting for me.

We all got off the jet and Jade went to get her motorcycle while Elita drove herself off and transformed.

"Brooke! Oh thank God!" my mom yelled as she ran to me. She quickly caught me in a tight hug, squeezing Jace in between us.

"Gramma!" Jace giggled, trying to squirm his way out from between us. Mom pulled back and took him from my arms, covering him with kisses.

"Oh, Brooke, what happened to you?" Akila asked as she came running up. She gently lifted my arm and saw all of the cuts. She then lifted my shirt and looked at the deep wound. "Oh my!"

"Akila, I really don't want to talk about it. I'm here now and that's what matters," I told her. It was true; I didn't want any more memories of that pain in my skull. I wanted to forget it and move on, which probably wouldn't happen for a long time. Akila just nodded and lightly hugged me.

"Who's the new Autobot?" Akila asked, looking at Elita's car form. Elita then transformed and looked down at her. "Whoa, she looks like Arcee!"

"Elita One?" Ironhide came stepping forward. "I thought you died in Egypt?" he asked.

Elita nodded. "I was very close to it. The Warriors dragged me away and I was locked up since. Until Brooke came along," she explained.

"Does-a she know about…," Mirage began. He and Ironhide looked at each other worryingly. They must have meant how Elita was once bonded to Optimus.

"Yes, we've talked," I said with a chuckle. "It's cool."

I greeted everyone else and it was a nice little reunion. Will had a bandage around his shoulder and said that the bullet was healing along nicely. He said there were medics on the base, so when I was cleaned up, I should go see them to heal my wounds. Cleaned up? Oh Primus, a hot shower was just what I needed right now.

"Oh, everything, this is Jade. She helped us find you guys," I introduced. Jade, who was wheeling her motorcycle towards us, stopped and bowed her head. My mom went forward and hugged her tightly. Her eyes widened and just patted my mom on the back.

The cold began to nip at Jace and I so we went inside the base. The base was beautiful, way better than N.E.S.T. or the Warriors. Everything was bright and welcoming, a stark contrast to my life lately. There was a control room, a cafeteria, a med bay, and rooms.

"Welcome to our base!" Ackerman greeted as soon as we got through the door. "Let me show you to your room, so you can get washed up. The Autobots are set to arrive in about four hours." My chest got warm. In a mere four hours, I would be introducing Jace to Optimus.

When I thought of Optimus, I thought how he was probably having a spark attack right about now. I haven't spoken to him in weeks, which meant he would probably be angry with me. But I did have a good reason.

Ackerman led me to a room where there was a large bed and a bathroom with a duel shower/bathtub, toilet, and sink. Two clean outfits sat on the bed, one for me and one for Jace.

"I'll leave you to getting ready," Ackerman said, and left the room. I decided to bathe Jace first and put him to sleep, and then shower myself.

I filled the bathtub and tested the water to make sure it was the right temperature. When it finally got filled enough, I stripped Jace of his dirty clothes and placed him in the bath. He splashed around while I absentmindedly started to wash him off.

"Mommy?" Jace said, trying to get my attention. I finally looked down to see that the bath water had turned red from my blood getting in it. Visions of my blood dripping onto the metal floor came into my head. I backed away from the bath and scooted away, my back finally hitting the wall.

"Mom!" I screamed out, tears beginning to come down my face. It didn't take long for my mom to come running in. She saw the bath water and me crying and she came to comfort me.

"It's okay, baby, you're safe now, don't worry," she cooed.

Soon my cloudy vision cleared and I left the room while mom began to run a clean bath for Jace. While it was running, she left Jace sitting on the lid of the toilet and came to talk to me.

"Please tell me what's happened to you," she told me. "You_ never_ cried and now you're crying over a little blood in Jace's bath."

I had to tell my mom. If I told anyone, it was my mom. "He tortured me," I told her. "He needed to get information and he used a knife to get it out of me. I keep seeing his fucking smiling face every day. I haven't slept in two days because every time I shut my eyes, all I see is him!"

"Oh, baby," my mom said, pulling me into a hug. It pained the stab wound in my stomach, but I ignored it and hugged her. "This obviously isn't the life I would have chosen for you. But your darkest hour is over and you're stronger for it."

I pulled away. "When is my darkest hour?! Because first, I thought it was when the Decepticons kidnapped you! They I thought that is was when Megatron basically Cybertronian raped me! Then I thought it was when I freaking _died_! And now my 'darkest hour' is getting stabbed within inches of my life?! I'm _done _mom! I don't know what to do!" I screamed.

"Brooke, you need sleep. I'm going to go bathe Jace and you go to my room and shower. When you're out, we'll take you to the med bay and see if we can't get you some sleep," she said. I just nodded, grabbed my clothes, and went to the room across from mine where my mother slept.

Showering was exactly what I needed as I washed the blood off of my skin and the grime out of my hair. Shaving was also an amazing thing, because I was done with the prickly hairs on my legs. My wounds stung under the water but it was good to get them cleaned. They looked like they had started to heal, especially that part of my arm where he basically ripped an entire chuck off.

When I was done, I dressed with the clothes they gave me: a tank top and Sophie shorts. Obviously they didn't want to cover my wounds with clothing until they were checked out by a medic. I used a hairdryer to dry my hair and it made me look actually semi normal.

When I left the room, I found my mom in the cafeteria, feeding Jace a small banana. Next to her was a ham sandwich and chips, obviously for me. I sat down next to her and tried to eat. But I couldn't eat more than half of the sandwich and a few chips before getting full.

"Brooke, you need to eat more," mom said.

"I can't, mom. I'm full," I told her. She looked sadly over at me and I forced myself to eat a few more chips.

After that was over with, I dumped the food I didn't eat in the trash and walked to the med bay. Luckily mom was keeping Jace busy enough for him to not notice I left.

Elita was in the med bay when I arrived, getting her energon levels back to full. The doctors here seemed much nicer than the scientists at the Warriors base, and the fact that they didn't wear long white coats really helped.

First they got to work cleaning and wrapping my wounds. Both my left and right arms were completely wrapped in bandages. My thigh and my stomach were wrapped with double bandages. They said I would have to change the bandages two times a day until they completely healed.

"Hello Brooke, I'm Doctor White, how are you feeling?" Doctor White was a middle aged man with long blond hair and a thick beard. His face seemed to hold a permanent smile, which definitely helped me.

"Patched up, doc," I told him. "My mom wanted me to see what I can do about sleep."

"Well, considering all you've been through, I wouldn't be surprised if you were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. This increase in adrenaline can cause nightmares and anxiety. Let me see if prazosin helps you sleeping habits," he explained. PTSD? Oh great.

Doc White led me to a bed where two nurses waited with syringes. Looking at them scared me, as the syringes reminded me of when they were putting medicine in me at the Warriors base.

"Now Brooke we have two shots for you. One is the prazosin and the other is a sleeping medicine. It should keep you asleep until the Autobots arrive," he told me. I closed my eyes and didn't look as the nurses moved my bandages and put the medicine in me.

Doc White moved me to a laying down position and it wasn't long before I fell into a deep sleep. Visions of Pace were nowhere in my sleep.

* * *

><p><em>Longest chapter yet! Here we see Brooke struggle with her PTSD. The next chapter has been a very, very long awaited one. But don't count the Warriors out for the count just yet!<em>


	21. Welcome Back

"Brooke! Wake up, sweetie!" My eyes opened to see my mom with a huge grin on her face. Sleep felt amazing and I definitely needed it. But when my mom quickly woke me up, I shot up, ready for battle. But she put a hand on my shoulder and calmed me down. Jace was sitting at the end of the bed I was on.

"It's midnight. The Autobots are 30 minutes away," she told me. My feeling inside suddenly beamed with warmth as I thought of seeing Optimus and the others again.

At the end of my bed was another pair of clothes. I grabbed the clothes and went to get dressed. They were a long sleeve black shirt, skinny jeans, and black boots. Luckily the clothes covered all of my bandages, so Optimus wouldn't be freaking out just yet. When I went back, mom was blowing raspberries on Jace's stomach, which was making him giggle.

I quickly scooped him up and kissed his forehead. "Are you ready to meet your daddy?" I asked him. _Would your daddy be ready to meet you?_

"Yeah, yeah!" Jace squealed out. I smiled at him and we all walked to the main hanger, where there was a wall open to the cold Russia landscape.

"They're in the atmosphere!" one of the workers yelled out. The warmth got warmer as I smiled at my family. I handed Jace off to my mom and told him that he needed to stay with her until I came and got him. I got warmer with each passing second and finally we saw a very large alien ship landing a few hundred yards away.

'_Welcome back to Earth'_ I thought as the door to the ship opened. Four cars zoomed out and finally skidded to a stop right in front of us. I easily recognized who it was: Leadfoot, Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Optimus. They transformed right in front of us and I smiled at Optimus. He got an upgrade and he looked great, valiant even.

"Autobots! Welcome back to Earth!" Ackerman greeted. Everyone else was really too stunned and happy to say anything.

"Thank you for your warm welcome, President Ackerman," Optimus said, nodding at him. "And thank you for aiding our human family while we were away." Ackerman beamed.

"Welcome back, you guys!" Ironhide bellowed, giving Ratchet a big hug. Ratchet didn't look very pleased about it, which caused me to laugh. As soon as Ironhide said that, everyone began to run up to the bots, welcoming them back to Earth. I didn't move; I just stood there smiling at Optimus. Seeing him made me feel so complete again.

Finally Optimus laid his optic on me and smiled. I smiled back at him. He took a few steps forward the transformed back into his alt form. His holoform stepped out, looking at handsome as ever. But he definitely changed. His stubble had grown out, but it definitely was nowhere near as bushy as Ironhide's. He wore a dark red button-up shirt with black dress pants. His blue hair had also grown out and a few strands hung in his eyes.

He looked at me and held his arms open. I took the sight in my mind, since this was what I was waiting for for a year. I quickly ran towards him, ignoring all of the pain in my body. When I reached him, he wrapped his arms around me. He held me in a tight hug and kept kissing the top of my head.

"Oh, how I've missed you," I said into his chest.

"I have missed you too, precious one." He put a hand under my chin and tiled my head up. When I looked at him, he kissed me hard on the lips. His hands moved to cup my face and my arms wrapped around him.

Finally when I needed breathe, I pulled away. "Optimus… I need you to meet someone," I said. He tilted his head at me and let me go. I walked over to my mom, who was holding Jace. I took him from her hands and walked back to Optimus. "Introduce yourself," I told Jace. He nodded and looked at Optimus.

"I'm Jace Orion Pax," he said with a smile. Optimus' eyes widened.

"Is he…?" he asked.

I smiled and nodded at him. "Yes, Optimus. I carried him and… he is your son," I told him. Optimus had his eyes fixed on Jace and Jace did the same.

"May I hold him?" Optimus asked. I smiled and nodded. He took Jace from my arms and I just watched as the two stared in curiosity at each other. Jace's bright eyes seemed to glow brighter.

"Daddy?" Jace asked, looking at me. Optimus smiled a warm smile at him.

"It is nice to meet you, Jace. I am sorry I was not here with you for a long time. But I promise that I will never leave you again," Optimus said. Then his blue eyes flickered to me. "Nor you, Brooke." Those made me feel so safe; like I didn't have to worry about the Warriors ever again. And seeing Optimus with Jace in his arms… It was heaven. I eyed my mother who was mouthing 'disowned' at me. But I didn't care that Optimus wasn't proposing to me then and there. Just seeing him was enough for me.

"Brooke!" I turned to see my favorite guardian's holoform running towards me.

"Bee!" I yelled, jumping into his arms. He laughed and spun me around. "I missed you so much!"

"Tell me about it! It's so boring without you around!" he said.

"Hey Bee, I want you to meet someone. Remember when you said that we had a child to watch over?" I said, leading him over to Optimus and Jace. "Jace, this is Bumblebee. Bumblebee, meet Jace, my son." Bumblebee stared at me and at Optimus. Then he looked at Jace.

"Brooke you… you were pregnant?" he asked me. I nodded at him and he looked at Jace, who had a big grin on his face. "He looks just like both of you," he noted.

"Bee!" Ben yelled from across the hangar. Bee winked at me then ran to his godson. When they met, Bee quickly scooped him up in his arms.

"Brooke, will you hold Jace for a moment?" Optimus asked me. I nodded and took Jace from him. His holoform disappeared and then he transformed to his real self. "Autobots, we will stay here for tonight then leave midday tomorrow," he ordered. Everyone nodded then went back to their business. Optimus walked up to me and placed a hand down. I put Jace in his hand and let him look.

"You are like Uncle Hide!" Jace yelled out. Optimus chuckled and allowed for Jace to crawl all over him, keeping a hand by him at all times.

"Hey Brooke, can I talk to you?" I turned to see Akila standing there with a grin on her face. "It's nice to see Optimus bond so quickly with Jace."

"It's an Autobot thing," I explained. "Creator bonds are very strong, second only to twin bonds. A creator bond is even stronger than a sparkmate bond."

"I hope Ironhide will act the same way with our child," she said. Well yeah, I'm sure he-

Wait, what?!

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped as I looked at her. "No way," was all I could manage out of my mouth.

She chuckled. "I'm pregnant!" she said. "Now of course, it was done in a more human way than what you and Optimus did, but yeah! I found out while you were asleep in the med bay."

This was great! This child would be the first born on New Cybertron! And I would be an aunt! This is amazing! I hugged Akila and congratulated her, then she went to make sure Ironhide wasn't bothering Ratchet too much.

"Brooke, you look tired. Perhaps it would be best for you to get some sleep?" Optimus asked me. I nodded at him and he handed Jace to me while he transformed and activated his holoform.

That's when the anxiety hit me. Optimus would see my wounds. He would be freaking out and go to basically nuke the Warriors base. But right now, all I wanted was off this planet.

We took Jace and put him to sleep in my mom's bed. Optimus and I needed to talk, so my mom said it would be fine if Jace slept with her tonight. When we got to my room, Optimus' holoform disappeared then reappeared in just pajama bottoms. I had never seen Optimus shirtless and, let me tell you, I was missing out. He was very muscular and tones. Light flicks of blue chest hair were there as well. He climbed under the sheets and waited for me. There was an outfit waiting for me as pajamas, but it was a midriff white short-sleeve shirt and black shorts, which didn't help to cover my bandages.

So, I took my boots off and climbed into the bed with my jeans and long sleeve shirt. Optimus raised an eyebrow at me. "Are you not going to change?" he asked. I shook my head no. "Is something the matter?"

Ugh. Now or never.

I grabbed the clothes and changed in the bathroom. All of my bandages were visible. I took a deep breath and walked back into the room. As soon as Optimus saw me, his smile faded and a look of shock took over. "Oh Primus Brooke, what happened?" he asked, jumping out of bed. He started to touch my arm but I winced and pulled away. "What happened to you?" His eyes were narrowed and his teeth were gritted.

"Do you remember that group that wanted to keep Earth human? Two days before we were set to come here, they found us and… and they captured Jace and I. Their leader, Ryan Pace, used this form of torture to get information out of me." Visions of the day came into my head and Pace's smile haunted me. I started to cry again, reliving the pain. "He cut me open like a pumpkin and got information out of me." Optimus pulled me in his arms and soothed me while I cried into his chest.

"Relax, Brooke. I'm here. I won't allow any harm to come to you or Jace," he promised.

"They made a mistake and I was able to get out. Elita helped me escape," I said.

"Elita One?" Optimus interrupted.

I looked down. He looked so eager that she was alive. It hurt.

"Yes, and she's strong and nice and beautiful. I know you guys were once bonded," I muttered, still crying.

Optimus moved my head up again and looked me dead in the eyes. "Brooke Nicolle Walters. _You_ are my sparkmate and you are the mother of my son. Yes, Elita is back, but our bond was severed. I am bonded with you, for life," he said. It made me feel a lot better. "Now, let me look at your wounds."

I held out my arm to him and he slowly unwrapped the bandage. When he saw the first cut, his eyes grew soft. When he continued up and kept seeing cuts, he began to be sad. He moved to my other arm and unwrapped the bandage quicker than before. Then he basically tore off the bandage on my leg and stomach.

"Brooke, he did this to you?" he asked. I slowly nodded my head, trying not to freak out at the sight of my wounds. He gritted his teeth and looked away. "I swear, I will find this man and rip him apart," he growled. This Optimus scared me. For once in my life, I was afraid of him. His voice was deep and laced with anger.

"I need your help putting the bandages back on," I said. Optimus turned back to me and slowly put them on, kissing every wound on my arm. When he got to the stab wound in my thigh, he lightly kissed it and then wrapped it up. He then kissed my stomach and lingered for a bit before wrapping it up. I moved to go lay down and he followed me.

When I got in the bed, Optimus pulled me close and climbed on top of me. He kissed me hard and traced his fingers along my bandages. Then he moved and began to kiss down my neck, lightly nipping certain areas. I moved to put my hands on the muscles on his back.

Finally he grabbed my hands and pinned them on either side of my head. He then looked up at me and smiled a sweet smile; but they sweet smile soon transformed and I was looking into the face of Pace. I was in that torture room again with my arms handcuffed to the metal bar. Then I felt pain in my stomach. I looked down to see the knife in me again. I could do nothing but scream.

"Brooke, please, it's me! Optimus!" Pace yelled with bright blue eyes. Suddenly everything started to morph back into my room with Optimus above me. When I snapped back to it, I scrambled to feel my stomach. Optimus lifted up to where he was straddling my hips. My stomach was fine and still bandaged.

"Optimus I-I… I'm sorry. I had a vision and I freaked. I'm sorry," I muttered. Optimus nodded and stroked my face with the back of his hand.

"I understand," he said softly, and went back to kissing my neck. I really couldn't do this, not now. I moved him off of me and he looked confused.

"Optimus, I'm sorry. That vision… I'm not in the mood for that. Plus, I've already had a kid before marriage, I'd like to keep my virginity," I said, as weird as that sounded.

Optimus looked surprised at me. "Is bonding not the equivalent to marriage?" he asked me.

"What? N-no, not on Earth terms!" I told him. "Is it the equivalent on Cybertron?" Optimus nodded his head. "So wait… That night, one year ago, when I asked you to spark merge with me… It was basically us getting married?" He nodded again. "So in your mind, we've been married for a year?" He nodded again. So all of the stuff mom accused him of was wrong! In his mind, we were married! "Wait, did you not see Ironhide propose to Akila?" I asked.

"I did, but I assumed you understood what bonding meant," Optimus explained. Oh my gosh, so this was all just a huge misunderstanding. "Brooke, if you want the traditional human proposal and marriage, I will make sure it happens. But I will need time to make preparations. For now, I want to take you home tomorrow."

Home. New Cybertron. Exactly where I needed to be. Home and safe with Optimus and Jace.

Optimus lay down next to me and wrapped me in his arms. His breath smelled like spearmint, which was my favorite.

"Brooke, look at me," Optimus ordered. I followed his orders and looked up. "Before you fall asleep, I need you to know something. I will be here until you wake up and I will protect you. You will _never_ go back to that man again and I will _never_ allow anyone to lay another hand on you."

"Optimus," I began. I had a question to ask him that I think only he could answer. "Why me? Why did the Primes choose me to do all this? To have to worry about the fate of another race and my son, when I should be worried about my first year of college? When I went back to normal life, I did feel normal for a few months. I had friends for the first time in my life. Why, Optimus, why?"

He rubbed his thumb on my face and kissed my forehead. "Oh little one, I asked myself the same thing when I was chosen to be Prime. I spent many solar cycles worrying about my place in the world and why I was chosen. But now I know that they chose me because I had the power to fight through anything that was thrown at me and still emerge as a leader. That's what being chosen means: it means you are a fighter. And I know you are a fighter, Brooke," he explained.

I snuggled into him. "Thank you Optimus. Thank you so much." I snuggled into him and soon I well into a deep, nightmare-less sleep.

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><p><em>And they're reunited! I don't know when the next chapter will be, as I am leaving tomorrow for a week-long vacation. Hopefully I have packed enough chapters in these past few days to keep you all entertained! <em>


	22. You're Safe

I woke up the next morning in Optimus' arms. It was only dawn, which meant that no one was awake yet, save for the few soldiers left over from the night shifts. All was quiet in the base, so all I could hear was the slow breathing of Optimus above me.

I leaned up and kissed Optimus' jaw. He, in turn, grabbed me and held me tight against his chest. "Good morning," he said softly to me.

"Well good morning to you! Today's the day," I said.

Optimus smiled and closed his eyes again. "I'm so excited to show you New Cybertron. My expectations have so exceeded what I envisioned," he said, very nostalgic. "Of course, I wish I could have shown you Cybertron instead."

"New Cybertron is going to be amazing," I said. "Decepticons will never destroy it."

Optimus smiled and hugged me tight again. I winced because of my wounds being pressed on. Optimus quickly let me go and looked down at my bandages. He seemed upset with himself.

"Optimus, don't worry, I'm fine," I told him. "You didn't hurt me!"

Optimus sighed and nuzzled his head into my neck. I sighed and shut my eyes. I didn't know who was going to take longer to get over the torture: Optimus or I.

"I am sorry for being so worried," Optimus apologized, his voice close to my ear.

"You can't protect everyone, Optimus," I told him.

"But I need to be able to protect you and our son," he said, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me closer to him. "And I will."

Noises began to emit from downstairs, which meant that everyone was waking up. I could hear my mom bringing Jace out of her room to head to the cafeteria for breakfast as well as the night shift soldiers turning in to sleep.

"We should go get breakfast," I told Optimus, beginning to sit up.

"Five more minutes," Optimus muttered, jokingly slinging himself across me and knocking me back down on my back. I laughed and he moved up to kiss me lightly. I started to kiss him back but then my stomach began to growl and I chuckled. "Okay, let's get you some food," he said, sitting up.

His hologram disappeared for a second then reappeared in a red tee shirt and black pants. I rolled my eyes at his quick change and grabbed another outfit from the pile I was provided. I quickly changed into a grey hoodie, tight brown cargo pants, and boots.

I grabbed Optimus' hand and walked to the cafeteria where a grand breakfast of pancakes and bacon was being served for the humans. Everyone was awake and eating, which really showed off the dynamics of our group.

"Akila you have to eat some fruit," Ironhide yelled, shoving a strawberry in Akila's face.

Akila gloatingly shoving a syrup covered pancake into her mouth and stuck her tongue out at him. "'Hide, I'm pregnant, not a vegan," she yelled back.

"Look, I spend all night researching human pregnancies. I know exactly what to do and you need to eat healthy," he retorted, pulling away the pancakes and putting a bowl of strawberries in front of her.

They continued on and I moved to watch the Lennox family. Sarah was nagging Annabelle for putting so much whipped cream and chocolate chips on her pancakes. Will could do nothing but laugh as he squirted an equal amount of whipped cream on his own pancakes. As soon as Sarah saw this, she punched him in the gut, causing Annabelle to laugh as well.

Sam and Michaela had it easy, sharing a peaceful breakfast as Bumblebee played with Ben. Bee was in his robot mode and was allowing his godson to crawl all over him. The three-year-old was standing on his shoulder, trying to move up to sit on top of his head. When he put his tiny hands on top of Bee's head, the battle mask fell down and Ben slipped down. Right before he hit the ground, however, Bumblebee grabbed hold of him and placed him on top of his head.

"Oh please, you so fell on your aft when Starscream came swooping in!" Jade yelled, catching my attention. She was sitting with Elita and joking with Leadfoot.

"Excuse me, right, but I remember yer screamin' and runnin' oray," Leadfoot joked in his thick cockney accent. It dawned upon me that they must have been in a battle together when Jade was a NEST soldier.

Finally I saw my mom with Jace in her lap, talking to Ratchet.

"Every five seconds with them, it was 'Ratchet, fix this,' or 'Ratchet, I got a dent'. I swear I was going to hit my _own_ head with a wrench," Ratchet growled, running a hand through his hologram's grey hair. He must have been talking about one of the sets of twins. "Pranks left and right! It's like they don't want to actually build the planet up!" Ah, Sides and Sunny. Skids and Mudflap were stupid, but not smart enough to plan major pranks back to back.

Jace looked bored but when he saw Optimus and I, he jumped out of my mom's lap and ran towards us. "Mommy, daddy!" he yelled as he quickly ran up to us. He was developing so fast; it was mere days between learning to walk and run.

When he finally reached us, Optimus dropped my hand and picked him up. "Good morning Jace," he greeted, placing a soft kiss on his forehead. Jace smiled and hugged his father tightly. "Brooke, go get something to eat, I'll feed Jace," he told me. It was really nice to have him around.

I went and grabbed a pancake, a couple strawberries, and a glass of milk. Then I took my seat at the same table as Ratchet and my mom. Optimus was feeding Jace small bits of a pancake, which he happily ate.

"You know, Jace, we're going to our new home today," I told him as I nibbled on a strawberry.

"Home?" he asked me. He must have thought home was at Ed's house in Alaska.

Optimus came in and wiped some syrup off of Jace's face. "Our home is far, far away. You see the stars up in the sky? Our home is out there," he told him. Jace smiled and opened his mouth for more pancakes. I'm not sure he entirely understood, but it was fine. "Brooke, you need to eat," Optimus said, noticing that I was only nibbling on a strawberry. It was hard for me to eat, but I cut a piece of pancake and put it in my mouth to please him. He nodded and went back to feeding our son.

After I ate my strawberries and most of my pancake, I remembered that I needed to change my bandages. I went and threw away my paper plate and left the cafeteria for the med bay. The nurses knew why I was there and led me to a covered area, where I took of my clothes so the nurse could get to my wounds.

The nurse (a woman, thankfully since I was in only my bra and underwear) came in and unwrapped the old bandages and let me get a look at them. The cuts on my arm started to scab over while the one area where a whole part of my skin was cut off wasn't healing as fast. My stabs also weren't healing very well.

The nurse gently cleaned my wounds and I had to close my eyes and take deep breaths, trying not to have memories of that day. I kept thinking of Optimus and Jace, which kept my mind off of Pace.

"Am I hurting you, ma'am?" the nurse asked me. It felt weird being called ma'am, especially by a woman years older than me, but she probably did that because I was such a high rank.

"No, no, I'm fine," I told her. She nodded and left to get clean bandages. I looked down at my wounds and sighed. I would probably be scarred in a few places.

It was then that my visions started to come and the dark room kept flashing in my head. Pace wasn't in there, but the dark room was still freaking me out. My breathing picked up and I tried to calm down. My vision switched quickly from the dark room to the vision of Optimus and Jace. My body was burning and beads of sweat formed on my forehead.

Then I felt coolness against my back. I turned to see Optimus in his true form, kneeling behind me. I looked into his glowing blue eyes and the visions of the dark room slowly faded away.

"Better?" he asked me. I nodded at him. His gaze then moved to my wounds and he clenched his jaw. "When we are injured, we are fixed by our medic. But humans take longer to heal, which is troublesome," he noted. He then moved his finger and rubbed against my arm where the wounds were.

As soon as I felt the metal on my wounds, the visions immediately came back. The metal felt just like the knife and suddenly I was right back in the dark room, with Pace staring me in the face. I screamed out and Optimus pulled away quickly. When he pulled away, the visions disappeared and I was able to look at him. His eyes were hurt and everyone in the med bay was watching us.

"Excuse me, sir, I need to put her bandages on," the nurse said, returning with rolls of bandages. Optimus nodded and stared at me intently. He then transformed into his car form and drove out of the med bay.

"Optimus…," I muttered, watching him leave. The nurse looked at me with sad eyes and wrapped the bandages around me. When she was done, I threw my clothes on, laced on my boots, and ran to where Optimus left.

I saw Akila sitting on the floor, playing with Jace. "Optimus used his hologram and went into your room," she told me. "He looked pretty upset." I nodded and picked Jace up. Jace smiled and rested his head on my shoulder.

When I got to our room, the door was shut. I slowly opened it to see Optimus' hologram sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. I crawled onto the bed and sat Jace down in my lap. He didn't stay there long though, as he soon got up and crawled over to Optimus, who hadn't moved since we got in the room. Jace looked around and jumped on Optimus' back. Optimus looked over at Jace and smiled a faint smile, grabbing him and hugging him close.

"I'm sorry, Optimus," I told him. Optimus looked over at me, his eyes sad.

"I believe, for the time being, I should not touch you while in my true form. At least, not until you are able to work through your visions," he told me. I could tell he was upset, but that seemed to be our only option at the moment. I nodded and Optimus kissed me lightly on the forehead.

Suddenly, a high-pitched alarm sounded and yelled out. "Alert! Alert! Intruders!" the robotic voice called out. I widened my eyes and look at Optimus. He handed me Jace and his hologram disappeared, meaning he was transforming into his true form. I stood up and put Jace on my hip. Who could be intruding? Ackerman said that the Warriors didn't have the resources to get here so fast!

I quickly ran into the main hangar and everyone was gathering. The soldiers were all gearing up in protective vests and guns. The Autobots were all pulling out their guns as well.

"Who is it?" I asked Akila when I went up to her.

"It's those stupid Organic Warriors," she growled, making my heart drop. "They brought their entire army." The visions started up again and I squeezed my eyes shut. Why were they here? Why were they ruining everything?

"Brooke," Optimus rumbled above me. I looked up at him through cloudy vision. "I am here now and I will protect you and Jace no matter what," he told me. I could tell he wanted to comfort me but was pulling himself back from touching me.

Some of our own were suiting up and Ackerman quickly took command in a way I had never seen before. His happy-go-lucky attitude disappeared and he began barking out orders. "Brooke," he said, "I need you, Akila, Michaela, Sarah, Ashley, and the kids to stay inside and go upstairs to the furthest room to the left. There is a viewing window there where you can see what happens. Everyone else, suit up." For once Akila and I nodded and didn't argue about wanting to fight. Everyone started up the stairs and Akila and I went up last.

"Wow, look at them, actually following orders for once," Ironhide joked, nudging Optimus. Akila rolled her eyes and I just looked at Optimus. He obviously saw how scared I was, not only of the Warriors, but also for his safety.

"Be safe," I told him. He nodded and locked his battle mask on. As soon as we were about to leave the view of the hanger, Jace started squirming in my arms and tried to go back.

"Daddy!" he called out. I held him tighter against me and we followed the others to the room.

True to Ackerman's word, there was a large window where we could see right outside to the tundra. Everyone was running out in warm jackets and the Autobots stood flanking Optimus.

Soon 3 large jets came and landed right in front of our soldiers. The Warriors all filed out and there were about 200 of them. They definitely outflanked our 100 soldiers. I thought we would have more soldiers, but it was an international base, and the base human reaction would be to serve your country and not the planet. But we also had 7 bots, so he had a bit of an edge.

The last person out of the jet was Pace. He was wearing a long black trench coat with twin guns hanging out the sides. He looked around and chuckled, opening his arms.

"Ah, the great Optimus Prime!" he greeted. "Did you see what I did to your girlfriend? Beautiful, wasn't it?" he said. I rubbed my bandages where the scares were. I couldn't see Optimus' face, but I did see his parts tensing up.

"Can we blow him up already?" Ironhide asked, whirling his cannons. I watched closely and didn't really notice when my mom slowly took Jace from my arms.

"This is my one and only offer: surrender now and answer for your crimes or else," Optimus yelled out. That was pure Optimus: always trying to diplomacy.

"Or else what, Prime? You'll kill me? I've already kidnapped your son and tortured your girlfriend, why not just wipe me off the Earth now?" Pace taunted. He really had big talk for such a small human.

But his reminder of my torture started to bring back visions. I stepped away from the window and sat down, trying to get them out of my head. There was a pain in my arms and I tightened my jaw.

"Brooke, you're okay, you're safe," Akila said, kneeling down next to me and rubbing a hand on my back. I shook my head and tried to remember that no one was hurting me, but I could still feel the pain.

"Or are you afraid?" Pace continued outside. "Afraid that if you attempt to fight me, you'll be blinded by your anger and lose. Well, I'm sorry to say that you are destined to lose this battle, Optimus. And I will take back the girl and cut her again. Only this time, I'll make sure she bleeds out, like the treacherous scum she is." A tear fell down my face and I couldn't move.

"I will not allow that to happen!" Optimus yelled, which signaled the gun shots. I jumped up and ran to the window, pushing back my clouded vision.

The Warriors were first putting their efforts in taking down the Autobots. They tried with Ironhide but he knew the tricks and shot at them. Leadfoot, however, didn't have the same luck as he was taken down. Before they could wrap him up more, Jade and Will jumped up and shot at them, knocking them away.

I was watching Optimus, who was firing at the Warriors that were trying to rope him. It hurt me, seeing the dead bodies fall limply due to the gun shots. Bumblebee was doing the same. It really reminded me that they were soldiers, first and foremost. I always forgot that. But as I saw those people, dead, because of them, it reminded me.

Soon Elita fell due to the wires and the Warriors were overwhelming our soldiers. Optimus must have seen this as well, as he quickly ran towards Pace. Pace snapped his fingers and his Warriors got their wires ready to take him down.

"Optimus!" I yelled out, putting my hand on the window. Optimus shot out at the Warriors and many were flung away due to the explosions. Ironhide ran up behind Optimus and watched his back while he dealt with Pace.

I held my breath as Pace pulled out his two guns and shot at Optimus. He hit with a few dings to his armor, but Optimus shot and got the two guns out of his hands. Only, he took both of his hands off as well.

Optimus aimed his gun at Pace, who was screaming from the loss of his hands. My mom, Michaela, and Sarah took Jace, Ben, and Annabelle away from the window and Akila and I watched closely.

"Not to you scum," Pace growled. He looked past Optimus and straight at me. He smiled the same smile he gave me when he was torturing me. My eyes widened and I stepped back from the window in fear, which caused Pace to chuckle. Optimus followed his line of sight and saw the fear in my face.

With one loud roar, Optimus shot Pace straight in the head. Parts of his brain went everywhere as his body fell limply to the ground. That was it. He was dead.

When the Warriors saw that Pace was gone, they all retreated into the jets, which quickly started up and flew away. Blood covered the snow; the blood of Warriors and soldiers alike. The vision of Pace was seared into my mind and I ran back to my room before anyone could stop me.

"With him gone, they'll fall apart," I heard Jade say as they all filed back into the hangar. I ran into my room and fell into the bed, burying my head in my pillow. Pace's creepy ass smile just kept showing up in my head and I kept seeing him standing at the foot of my bed.

I looked away from my bed and closed my eyes. It was then that I saw something that I hadn't seen in years: the image of Megatron and his bright red eyes. The face then morphed into Pace.

"Leave me alone!" I screamed, curling into a ball. My wounds were killing me as I moved, making me cry out even louder.

I heard the door to the room open up and slam shut. Then I found myself sitting in Optimus' lap, his arms wrapped around me.

"Shh, shh," he cooed. "It's fine now, you're safe. Pace is never going to hurt you again." I cried into his chest.

"I saw Megatron!" I screamed through the tears. Optimus' eyes widened and he comforted me more, kissing my forehead.

"I'm here and I'm going to protect you," Optimus said. I calmed down and soon the visions left my head. Optimus continued to hold me tight. "I need you to get your things packed. Leadfoot and Ratchet are preparing the ship and we will leave as soon as you are ready. Your mother is packing Jace's things.

I really needed to stop giving Jace to my mother; it seemed as though he spent more time with her than with me.

I began to pack my clothes and shower stuff. Then it hit me. "What about food? And clothing? How are we going to get that on New Cybertron?" I asked him. It was something I never really thought about until now.

"Ratchet had made a technology similar to your 3D printers. It can make organic foods as well as clothing. We are bringing a few skilled workers with us: gardeners, medics, engineers, and an architect. New Cybertron will be human-friendly," he told me. I smiled and nodded, continuing to pack up my things.

Optimus laid back on the bed and put his hands behind his head. I smiled at him. "Jace is going to have a bright future," I told him. I was so excited for Jace's future. He would live in a big house in a peaceful planet and be free to do whatever he wanted in life.

I also thought of my future on New Cybertron. I would live with Optimus and Jace. I would be a leader and oversee all that had to do with New Cybertron. I wouldn't have to worry about getting a job or finding a home to live in or even taxes!

I finished packing and brought my few bags down to the hangar, Optimus following. Everyone else was waiting as well and I was the last one to arrive. Seconds after we arrived, Ratchet and Leadfoot drove in.

"The ship is fueled and ready to go, Optimus," Ratchet reported in.

Optimus nodded and his car form drove up to us. "Then it is time," he said. He then transformed into his true form. He looked at all of the soldiers who fought for us and nodded his head. "You are all Autobots. And while we may no longer have a presence on this Earth, know that we are always with you. Soon New Cybertron will be open for any humans wishing to live in peace with us," he told everyone. Another one of Optimus Prime's famous speeches.

I stepped forward, grabbed Jace, and rested him on my hip. "I want to thank all of you. Today you stood not only to protect the Cybertronian race, but also my son, my sister, my mother… my entire family. Thank you all for your sacrifices. And I know that as soon as we can, we will be back to welcome you to our new home. I will remember you all," I told them, nodding to Optimus. I can make fancy speeches too!

Everyone went to load up in the Autobots so they could drive us out to the ships. I got into Optimus' passenger seat and sat Jace in my lap. I saw the Witwicky's get in Bumblebee, Akila and the Lennox's get into Ironhide, and my mother get into Ratchet. Several others loaded into Leadfoot and Mirage.

We all drove out of the hangar, waving goodbye to everyone we would be leaving behind. Ackerman stood as their leader, giving a large smile and a small wave. Then we drove into the ship. It was just amazing. Bright technology lit up the ship and there were multiple floors.

We drove up to the top floor where the controls were. Leadfoot let the few humans he had out and transformed. He took the seat of the ship where he could control it and pressed a few buttons. "Evry one 'old on tight; it's gonna be a bumpy ride! Right!" he called out. A seatbelt snaked around Jace and I and I held onto him tightly. The ship started to shake.

"Thrusters on full and oray we go!" he yelled out, pulling a lever down. The whole ship shook and I felt the ship lifting up. Within 5 seconds, Leadfoot yells, "We are out of the atmosphere!" The ride became smoother and all of the humans were able to stand up and look around. As soon as I got out of Optimus, I moved to the nearest viewing window.

There was Earth. There was my home for 18 years. It was majestic as it got smaller. Looking at Earth made me realize all I was leaving. I was leaving all the adventures I had around the world. I was leaving Landon and Katheryn.

Landon and Katheryn! I never told them what happened to me! They must be worried sick. But there was no way I could contact them from here. I would have to wait until I returned to Earth to see them. Or perhaps when better communications were set up.

"Mommy look!" Jace yelled, pointing at the space station that passed us by. I was so cool seeing all this stuff.

Optimus' hologram put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a light peck. "Four months from now, we will be on New Cybertron," he told me.

Four months in a ship. Great.

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><p><em>I'm back from vacation and I return with the longest chapter yet! Guys you don't know how much I fangirled at the Transformers ride in Universal. We got there early so there was absolutely no one in line. But we got to see the All Spark and Scorponok's tail and when I rode the ride I got super close to Optimus and Bumblebee and ahh I was dying. Then I got a selfie with one of the workers dressed as a NEST soldier and a picture with Optimus Prime! I also got a NEST tank top and a big Autobot pin. It was amazing. So now this story is winding down and we will see a lot of bonding time until they arrive on New Cybertron! Review please!<em>


	23. Journey

_So since each filler chapter turned out a lot shorter than I wanted to upload, so I decided to combine them all into one. Soon we'll be reaching New Cybertron! Review!_

* * *

><p><em>Destination: New Cybertron<br>__ETA: 98 Earth days_

The new ship was completely beautiful with shining metal everywhere and multiple floors of rooms fit for surviving four months in deep space. There were only a couple of human bedrooms but many Cybertronian sized bedrooms, filled with recharging berths and many other Cybertronian needs. There was also one large floor of just medical needs, a small space with the '3D food printers' Optimus spoke of, and many floors of just engine room. There was a double bed and a crib inside of Optimus' quarters and one double bed inside of Ironhide's. The rest of the humans would all be staying in their own few rooms, some even having to make beds on the floor. Optimus apologized for the lack of room, but it was all we had for now. More human-friendly ships were to be made when New Cybertron was habitable for humans.

A few weeks had gone by since we left Earth and the views of space became pretty dull. Occasionally we would pass by a planet or a system that would be interesting to see, but that was few and far between.

Akila seemed to be having a normal pregnancy, but I have never seen Ironhide so nervous. Every day he monitored Akila's food intakes and constantly checked her vitals. I laughed at his worry but I knew that if Optimus was around during my pregnancy, he would have done the same thing.

Jace was growing as well, but not as fast as he was before. No one knew how rapid his growth would be, so we were all just waiting and seeing. His learning skill was way beyond his age though, since he was already caught up to me when it came to Cybertronian language, which was only a basic level. His English was also still basic. Motor skills were advancing as well, as he could walk and run, which turned him into a troublemaker. He was constantly playing with things he didn't need to be touching and I can't even count the number of times the emergency alarm went off just because he pressed a wrong button.

My wounds were still healing and some were definitely going to leave scars, especially the stabs. I changed my bandages every day and the visions seemed to be less, but I still got them sometimes. Luckily, Optimus was always there to comfort me and make them go away.

There were fifteen humans in all that joined us: 6 gardeners, 5 medics, 3 engineers, and an architect. It was hard finding people to join us, but the few that did were very nice and excited to start a new life on New Cybertron.

"Brooke?" Akila asked one evening. I was sitting on the wall after eating dinner while Optimus left to put Jace to bed. I was eating a synthesized salad, which tasted very close to salad back at home, but it has a slight rust-like taste to it; one that I would have to get used to for a while.

"What's up?" I asked her, placing my food down next to me and crossing my legs.

Akila sat next to me and put a hand on her stomach, where a slight bump was beginning to show. "So during your pregnancy, was there anything… different about it?" she asked me.

"Besides the fact that it took months after conception to start growing?" I asked with a chuckle. Akila smiled at me.

"Well, yes, of course besides that."

I shrugged, trying to think of something. "Well, it was shorter than usual. Cybertronian pregnancies are very short, only a few months Earth time, so they develop rapidly. Their childhoods are also very short but their growth process slows once they reach maturity. So we'll have to see how it works with Jace and your child," I told her.

She rubbed her stomach sheepishly and closed her eyes. "My child. Geez Brooke, could you imagine that when we met the Autobots three years ago, we'd be moms and aunts in such a short time?" she wondered. "Because I certainly didn't."

I chuckled at her. She had a point; there's no way I thought I'd be a mom in three short years. And with Optimus Prime? "No way," was all I could say.

"So," Akila said, changing the subject, "Jace seems to be a little rebel, isn't he?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Oh please, that's an understatement. He takes more after me than Optimus, that's for sure. I think Ratchet is ready to strap him down to his crib for the remainder of the journey. Optimus is trying to keep a leash on him but he's still a little awkward," I told her.

"Awkward how?"

"Well, the Autobots are soldiers! They've known nothing but war for who knows how many years. It's not like children have been running around the battlefield," I explained. "Of course, Ironhide will probably be less awkward than Optimus, seeing as he was around Annabelle when she was a baby."

Akila just smiled and nodded. "He's so excited to be a father," she said. "I just wonder if it's going to be a girl or a boy."

"Got any names picked out?" I asked her.

"I'm thinking of Aaron for a boy. Junior, of course," she told me. Aaron Hide Jr.? I'm sure Ironhide would like that his child was named after his human name.

"And a girl?"

"I'm not sure yet! It's only a few weeks into the pregnancy so I'll have plenty of time to think about it," she said.

I chuckled at her and reached down to take a sip of my water sitting beside me. Luckily the ship's water reserves were pretty full, considering there was water on New Cybertron.

"Life on New Cybertron is going to be totally different," Akila noted. She had a point: this whole new planet was going to provide a whole new life and new opportunities for us.

"I have a feeling we'll still have to deal with some normal things," I told her. "Eventually we'll have to establish schools so the children can learn, both Cybertronian and human. So we'll still get the 'First Day of School' tears. And then there's sneaking out, of course. More human children will move here and I'm sure they'll have friends."

"Jesus, Brooke, calm down already. Jace is still in diapers and my child doesn't even look like any species yet," Akila said with a laugh.

"Well, excuse me for looking ahead!" I said, laughing right along with her.

This was normal sister bonding. Well, as close to normal as you could get in a spaceship heading light-years away from Earth.

Akila spread her legs in front of her and put her hands behind her head. "Geez, sneaking out. I was the one that usually did that, now I have to worry about my child doing it? Ironhide is going to have, like, seven cows," she said. It was true; Akila has done more than her fair share of sneaking out.

"Good thing I don't have to worry about that with Jace," I said with a smile.

Akila smiled and looked at me. "No, all you have to worry about is him accidently blowing up the ship because of a shiny button!" she joked.

She had a point. If Jace pressed the wrong button or pulled the wrong wire… we'd be in a real pickle. Maybe I could use one of the machines to make a toy for him or something…

Before she could reply, Optimus made his way into the room in his true form. Even though he was refraining from touching me while in it, he was trying to get Jace used to the fact that his father was a giant robot.

"Jace is asleep," he reported. He then raised an eye to the two of us. "And may I inquire as to what you two are talking about?"

I smiled and stood up, throwing my plate away. "Just about her new baby," I told him. "Did Jace give you any trouble?"

"None whatsoever."

"Well that's a first," Akila said, causing Optimus to slightly smile. "You guys really need to get a toy for him, OP."

"I'll see if Michaela has some that we can borrow," I told her. "I'm sure Ben has outgrown a few of his toys." With that, I took off towards the Witwicky room on the floor below.

* * *

><p><em>Destination: New Cybertron<br>ETA: 62 Earth days_

It was another day like any other on the ship. I was sitting in my bed reading a book my mom packed for us while Optimus played with Jace. Jace stopped being so troublesome, which was good, especially for Ratchet. I was especially thankful for the toys Michaela was able to give me.

"Come now," Optimus asked Jace. He was drilling Jace on counting to 10 in both English and Cybertronian. While he was able to do it in English, Cybertronian was a bit harder for him.

"_Enon_, _daion_, _traion_, t-_tesseron_, uh," he stopped. Going past four was about his stopping point. But Optimus wasn't having any of that.

"_Penton_, Jace. Similar to how an Earth pentagon has five sides," he said.

Jace nodded and continued on. "_Penton_, _eksion_, _eneon_,_" _he chanted out.

'_Wrong_,' I thought in my head. _Eksion_ was right, meaning six, but _eneon_ meant nine.

"_Eneon_ means nine," Optimus lectured. With that, I got up from the bed and wrapped my arms around Optimus' holoform's neck.

"Jace, go play with your toy," I told him. Jace gave me a big grin and ran off to play with the toy boat. Optimus sighed and closed his eyes. "You need to relax on him. He's not even a year old," I reminded him.

Optimus placed a light kiss on my hand. "I often forget his young age due to how smart he is. I apologize," he said. I moved and sat down next to him.

"He is a lot smarter than he looks. Plus he's growing a lot faster. I wouldn't be surprised if, by the time we got to New Cybertron, he looks as old as Ben," I said. Ben was flying his boat all over the room and making crashing noises as he dipped it down to the floor. "So, what about the plan for New Cybertron? We never really talked details."

"Well currently Cybertropolis is going to be the capitol. Our homes are already built on the outskirts of it. Small improvements are being made for Washington, the human capitol. More Cybertronians are arriving every day so our main concern would be houses in Cybertropolis. More cities will be built later that were once on Cybertron, such as Gygax and Vos," Optimus explained. I really needed to do research on list of Cybertronian cities so we could start planning what would be built and when.

I was so excited for a planet for humans and Cybertronians to live together in peace. And the best part? We wouldn't have to deal with the government. Because we _were_ the government.

"Also, our days and years are different," Optimus told me. "One New Cybertronian day is 30 hours; 15 hours of light and 15 hours of darkness. Our years last 400 days, as opposed to 365 and seasons last longer. But as our planet is similar to Earth, it shouldn't be that different for you."

"Any important new Cybertronians arriving that I should know about?" I asked him.

Optimus pondered on that. "Have I told you about my brother?" Whoa wait, _brother?_ My eyes widened and Optimus gave a slight smile. "I assume I have not. His name is Ultra Magnus and he is the only blood relative I have left. During the War, he was my second-in-command. He follows protocol closely, so he will more than likely want to be in charge of the New Cybertronian military," he explained.

"So Jace has an Uncle Magnus. That's great!" I said. It would be fun to meet this Ultra Magnus. "Have you told him about me?"

"How could I not? You are my sparkmate," Optimus said. "You are also a Prime."

Oh right. A Prime.

* * *

><p><em>Destination: New Cybertron<br>ETA: 28 Earth days_

"Take that Bumblebee!" I yelled as I fired a shot at Bumblebee's character on the screen. Before he could turn and shoot at me, his character fell to his death. "And once again, the human beats the Cybertronian fighting machine!" I teased, looking up at him from where my head was resting on his holoform's lap.

"Rematch," he growled, his eyes glued to the screen.

Since Bumblebee installed the game on the screen in one of the recreation rooms, he and I have been strengthening our bond by playing. Only it usually just caused Bee to get frustrated because I kept beating him.

"Bee come on, it's 7-0, I think I've won this round," I told him.

Bumblebee ignored me and pressed the rematch button. Once again, I gripped my controller and prepared my gun. My character ran around the screen until I finally, once again, found Bumblebee's character with his back turned to me. But instead of shooting him, I sneaked around the map until I finally got to an area where he would definitely see me. I turned around with my back to him.

"Dang, Bee, where are you?" I lied, pretending to be so confused.

"Right here!" he yelled as a bullet went straight through my character's head. I made a sad noise and dropped my controller.

"Aw, darn, you got me!" I screamed out. Bumblebee laughed and hugged me tightly. I definitely missed times with Bee. I loved being with Optimus, but Bumblebee was my best friend and nothing, not even time, changed that.

"Wait till we get to New Cybertron. Have you ever been racing? It's amazing," he said, leaning back to lie on his back.

I laughed at that. I bet Bumblebee was great at racing. "Do you really think Optimus will let me do that?" I joked.

"Yeah you have a point," Bee said, looking a bit sad.

I laughed and playfully punched his arm. "Maybe I can sneak out one night," I told him. The idea of sneaking out made me laugh. Optimus was my soon-to-be husband but here I am thinking he's still my superior. "I'm going to have to keep my eye out with Jace when he gets older. Soon he'll be sneaking out with his cousin Ben and Uncle Bee."

Bumblebee's eyes widened. "Uncle Bee?" he asked.

"Bumblebee, you're my brother. Of course you're going to be Uncle Bee to Jace!" I told him. Then I heard the door to the room open and Optimus walked in in his true form, Jace sitting in his palm. He took a few steps towards me and placed Jace on the floor, who ran to me. "Speak of the devil!" I said with a smile. Jace jumped onto me and I groaned out as he squished me.

"Hi mommy," he said with a smile. I smiled and gave him a kiss. Then I looked over at Bee, who was watching him with sweet curiosity.

"Say hi to Uncle Bee," I told him. Jace smiled and turned to give Bee a big hug. Bee just smiled and returned the hug. Optimus stood behind us and watched the scene with a small smile. Optimus told me that since Jace was half me, Bumblebee would feel a protector bond over him as well. It made me feel very happy, knowing that Jace would have such a great protector.

* * *

><p><em>Destination: New Cybertron<br>ETA: 13 Earth days_

The days were winding down and everyone was anxious to get to New Cybertron. Our architect, Maria Shultz, was already filling up a sketch books with ideas for government buildings, mass-housing, and a large greenhouse. She was also thinking of ways to make large scale bridges over the water.

Akila was getting even bigger and was about halfway through her pregnancy. Ironhide was freaking out, to say the least. But he seemed excited. He pulled Optimus aside a few times, I'm guessing to talk about what it's like being a father. Ironhide was present for my entire pregnancy and even Jace's birth, but I guess since this baby was his, he was going crazy.

Ratchet and my mother were growing even closer too. She spent most of her time in the med bay, just sitting around and talking. Since there were no goofballs around playing pranks, the med bay didn't get many visitors. She didn't tell me about anything romantic, but Akila and I both figured that it was only a matter of time.

Optimus' bond was as close with Jace as I was. He took over for Ironhide with teaching Jace and I Cybertronian, while I focused on teaching him English. English would be the main language of Cybertronian, but I'm sure other languages would arrive as well when humans made their way to New Cybertron.

My assumption was right about Jace. It was almost the end of the voyage and he was already looking as old as Ben. He was aging rapidly, about two times as much as normal; only four months old and he already looked one. Optimus told me that maybe he would rapidly age during his childhood years but his growth would slow down when he reached maturity. I seriously hoped for that, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of my head that he would keep rapidly aging until he ended up with half of the life as a normal human.

My wounds were completely healed, but I did have scars where I was stabbed and where the whole slice of my arm was cut off. With the wounds gone, my visions also stopped. Occasionally I would see that stupid smile but it was easier for me to shake off, especially with Optimus nearby.

"Brooke?" Optimus asked one night. Well, we didn't really have night in space, but we had hours when everyone would sleep. I was lying in the bed and Optimus was standing next to me in his true form.

I opened my eyes and looked up at him. "What is it?" I asked him, trying to be quiet since Jace finally went to sleep.

"I would like to try touching you in my true form again, if you agree," he asked. I realized that Optimus had never laid a single true finger on me since it caused visions in the med bay four months ago. I'm sure that hurt him since his holoform wasn't technically him.

I slid off the bed and walked towards him, sliding my jacket off of me so I was in a tank top and pajama bottoms. "I want to try," I told him. He gave me a look of relief and kneeled down towards me.

Slowly, Optimus leaned down and he moved his hand closely behind me. His fingers grazed my back and I felt the coolness of the metal through my tank. I outstretched my arms to where my cuts used to be, which now smooth skin with one small scar were. Optimus moved and traced his hand over my scar. I looked up at him, readying myself to fight back flashbacks.

But they never came.

Optimus gave a sigh of relief and moved his finger down my arm. "May I see where you were stabbed?" he asked me. I nodded and rolled up my shirt to where the scar was on my stomach. Optimus placed his fingers on my back and rubbed his thumb over the scar. There were no flashbacks or vision. All I could hear was Optimus' and my breathing. "I am glad you are no longer plagued by the visions," he told me, removing his hand from me. I gave him a smile then yawned. "You need sleep."

I nodded and moved to lie down on the bed, but Optimus rubbed a finger against me to stop me. I looked up at him and he put his hand down so I could get into in. I walked on and sat down in his palm. He lifted his hand up and used the other to grab one pillow and my blanket. He then walked over to his large metal berth and moved to lie down.

I understood what he wanted and when he put his hand onto his chest, I climbed out and took the pillow and blanket from his hand. Then I placed the pillow down, wrapped myself in the blanket and lay down on his chest. He smiled and offlined his optics. I put my head down and fell asleep to the humming of his spark.


	24. Welcome Home

We counted down the time until New Cybertron was in the distance. Time was a weird thing out in space, since you couldn't measure by days or hours. We were trying to get used to the 30 hour New Cybertronian day, but that proved difficult since most of us have been living in 24 hours for our entire lives. But it was just one of the many things we would have to get used to.

I woke up on the last day of our trip in the bed alone. Since that night a while ago, I usually slept on Optimus' chassis but, with the nearing of New Cybertron, he usually woke up early to communicate with the planet and make sure everything was running smoothly. When he did leave early, he usually tucked me in the bed before he left.

I got out of the bed and dressed myself in jeans, a black V-neck, and black combat boots. Then I slowly roused Jace from sleep and dressed him in a white tee shirt and shorts. He then wrapped himself up in his favorite plaid jacket, a hand-me-down from Ben. It was rather large on him and his arms didn't completely fill up the sleeves, but I figured it wouldn't be a problem for long. So he quickly shoved his arm through the sleeve and grabbed my hand as we left the room.

Like I imagined, Optimus was in the control room with Leadfoot. As soon as we walked into the room, I picked up Jace and rested him on my hip. He was growing so fast, it wouldn't be too long until I couldn't do that anymore.

"So, are we there yet?" I asked, making Optimus and Leadfoot turn to me.

"We'll be on New Cybertron by the time you lot finish yor breakfast," Leadfoot proclaimed. Optimus laid down a hand and I stood on it. He then brought Jace and I up to the large viewing window and pointed to a very bright light in the distance.

"That is New Cybertron. Like Leadfoot said, we will be arriving shortly after breakfast," he explained. Jace was staring out the window at the stars and few planets we seemed to pass by. I could see Optimus giving him a warm smile.

"Well, come on then, let's have some breakfast," I told them. Optimus nodded at Leadfoot then left the room with us in his hand.

The mess hall was beginning to fill with humans synthesizing their food and Autobots coming for their energon. Optimus sat Jace and I on the floor while he went to get an energon cube. At the synthesizer, I made cereal for Jace and myself. I also made a cup of coffee for later use. We sat an empty table and Optimus stood nearby, sipping on his energon cube. When he was done, he transformed and used his holoform to sit with us.

It wasn't long before Akila joined us in her pajamas, Ironhide on her heels. She slid down in the seat next to me and I nudged the coffee her way. She sent me a slight smile and sipped at the drink. She had bags under her eyes and her stomach was so big that she looked ready to give birth any day. She was even bigger than me on the day I had Jace.

"Have you had any scans done since you found out you were pregnant?" I asked her, eyeing her belly sticking through her college shirt.

Akila rolled her eyes. "Please, when I first found out, 'Hide was doing scans on me every hour on the hour. I let it go on for about a week then I told him to quit it," she explained.

"That is not safe, Akila. Your child is a very rare mix of two very different species; you need scans often," Optimus scolded.

"Thank you for saying that," Ironhide grunted as he gulped down his energon cube in one swallow. "I've been trying to get her to let me scan her for months. Look at her stomach; it's not normal!"

Akila slammed her hands down on the table, causing the few people in the mess hall to quickly turn their heads over to us. "I don't need to get a damn scan! I'm fine!" she yelled.

"Akila!" my mom scolded from across the room. "You will go with Ratchet to get a scan right this minute, young lady."

Apparently she knew how to deal with the amplified moods of pregnancy. Ratchet nodded and stood up. Akila gritted her teeth then stood up and followed Ratchet. I followed them as well into the med bay. Ratchet, using his true form, placed Akila and I on the large medical berth then began a light blue scan went over her body.

"Well, doc? How is it?" Akila asked, angry. Ratchet began to chuckle and shake his head. Akila cocked her head. "Um, excuse me? Why are you laughing?"

Ratchet put a hand to his helm and called in Ironhide. Ironhide quickly ran into the room and straight to Akila. "What's wrong with her? Is the baby alright?" he yelled, optics glaring at Ratchet.

"Ironhide, you might want to sit down for this," Ratchet warned, pulling up a large stool next to the medical berth. Ironhide tilted his head and looked at him, not listening to the warning.

"Tell me, doc," he ordered.

"Well, the baby is fine," Ratchet said. "Both of them."

_Both_ of them?! Twins!

Ratchet had a point and Ironhide fell into the stool, his optics fixed on the ground and his mouth wide open. Akila looked exactly the same as she instinctively placed a hand on her stomach.

"With the way they look, they're due any day now," Ratchet noted. Both of them were still frozen in their positions. "Would you like to know their sexes?"

"Might as well, so we don't have to think of two thousand names," Akila said, almost in a trance. I was excited for this; Akila and Ironhide's children would be Jace's best friends, so it would be cool to know their genders.

"A boy and a girl," Ratchet told them. Fraternal twins! How sweet.

"Maybe we should give them some time alone," I told Ratchet. He nodded, picked me up, and we went back to the mess hall. Optimus and my mom were the only ones in there as everyone else went back to back.

"So how is she?" my mom asked.

"Well, she's definitely pregnant!" I told her. "You're about to have three grand kids!"

My mother froze and clapped her hands together. "Oh this is so wonderful! Twins, how great!"

Before we could say anything else, Leadfoot's voice rang over the intercom. "We are about ter arrive on New Cybertron! Everyone collect yor fings and welcome 'ome!" he announced.

"Home," I muttered with a smile. Optimus smiled back at me.

"Come on, let's go get your things," he said, and transformed. I got in the driver seat and put Jace on my lap. He seemed to know what was going on and had a huge smile on his face. Maybe his half-Cybertronian side was picking up on the abundance of Cybertronians nearby.

We arrived at our room and I packed the few clothes we had into a duffle bag while Optimus entertained Jace. The ship was experiencing a bit of turbulence and it took me a few minutes before I wasn't stumbling around the room. Finally, it stopped.

"The bridge is open and we 'ave arrived! I 'ope yer enjoyed flyin' SS Leadfoot!" Leadfoot announced. I did a quick scan over the room to make sure I didn't leave anything and then jumped back in Optimus.

"Come on let's go see New Cybertron!" I yelled, anxious. Optimus chuckled at me and growled his engine. Then we were off to the exit. We were one of the last people off the ship and there was no one in the way of Optimus' large self. Finally we saw the exit and he stormed straight through it onto the planet.

"Oh, my God," I muttered.

"They have done a lot of work since I have been gone," Optimus said. I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Mamma it's so pretty," Jace said, pressing his face up against the glass.

And right he was. New Cybertron was beautiful.


	25. Perfect

New Cybertron was the perfect planet. The ground was completely metal and as far as the eye can see. We were at a loading port so there were a few smaller scale ships on either side of the _Gladiator _and the empty shell of another ship that looked about the same size. There were large skyscrapers on the horizon that looked about twice as large as Earth skyscrapers. The sky, however, reminded me of Earth. The sun was setting so the sky was a beautiful mix of orange, red, and yellow.

Once we got outside of the ship, Mirage took the skilled workers to their housing, which was like apartments downtown. Optimus, Ironhide, Ratchet, and Bumblebee brought my family, the Witwicky's, and Lennox's to our new homes, which were very close to each other.

Finally we made it and it was a beautiful, mansion-like building, except for the fact that it was entirely metal. Also, the doors were Cybertronian-sized so anyone could walk through. Our homes were situated in a roundabout driveway with a large mansion in the middle and two smaller homes flanking either side. The large home in the middle was for my family, the one on the left for the Witwicky's, and the one on the right for the Lennox's. The homes were so large as thanks for being allies during the Autobots' temporary time on Earth.

"Optimus this is beautiful. All of it," I told him as we pulled up to the home. We were on the outskirts of the city but the skyscrapers were still there.

"Thank you so much," he said, with pride in his voice.

We pulled up to the house and everyone went inside to look around. Our house had a room for each couple along with six guest rooms. Apparently Optimus had communicated the existence of Jace before we landed because one room had a crib and various toys including robot dolls and a remote control hover car. There was also one room for Akila and Ironhide's child but now there would have to be another crib added in for the twins. Each master bedroom had a large, human sized bed, a dresser for clothes, a berth, a clothing synthesizer, a television, and a large bathroom attached. The television was tuned onto a government channel for now, until other channels and maybe even entertainment TV came to the planet.

Another great part was the backyard. There was a large porch area where we could look out onto the ocean. There was also a pool, which made my mom very happy.

"This place is amazing!" I said, spinning around in the living room area. The house was divided into two sections, one for Ironhide and Akila, one for Optimus and me, both sides on the upper level. On the lower level was a general living room and a room for my mom.

"I thought you would like it," Optimus smirked.

Akila, with the help of Ironhide, was chilling on the large, Cybertronian sized sofa. "This is the life," she muttered, her hand on her stomach. Ironhide smiled and nudged a finger towards her stomach.

My mother was ready to relax as well. "If you all will excuse me, I'm going to make myself some clothes and hit the pool! Would anyone care to join me?" she asked.

"Actually," Optimus interjected, "we have been gone for a while and I have invited everyone over this evening to introduce young Jace and reunite friends."

Optimus invited the whole Cybertronian race? "Wait you invited _everyone_?" I asked him.

"There are only about twenty Cybertronians at the moment. More and more arrive every day, but many of the new arrivals want to meet their new Prime," Optimus said, nodding towards me. He then looked down to see Jace, who was holding his hands up and wanting to be held. He gladly picked Jace up and rested him on his shoulder.

Akila struggled to stand up and finally did, with the help of Ironhide. "I guess we should go get dressed then," she said. Ironhide nodded and took her to their room upstairs. We all followed suit and went to our different rooms to get ready for the party.

I quickly synthesized a black shirt and a floor-length red skirt. I dressed Jace in a blue plaid shirt, black vest, and black pants. Optimus didn't use his human holoform, since he was now on his home planet and could be his true self.

"It's nice to see you in your true form," I told him as I finished the buttons on Jace's vest. "You're very dashing."

Optimus smiled at me. "I am not the only one, Brooke," he said, making me blush. Two years of knowing the mech, and he still made my blush like a schoolgirl.

Soon Autobots began to come to the house and we went out of our side of the house to socialize. It was nice to be reunited with a lot of the 'bots again and they missed us too. But there were also a lot of other Autobots I was meeting for the first time, such as Blurr, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen. Each was very happy to meet Jace and me.

The party soon turned into small chatter and people marveled at Akila's pregnancy, caught up with old war stories, and shared plans for the future. Jace and Ben were running around the room and climbing on all the different Cybertronians.

I munched on the finger foods until Optimus came over and picked me up.

"Ultra Magnus has arrived," he told me and I nodded at him. He placed me on his shoulder and walked towards the entrance to the house.

It was pretty obvious who Ultra Magnus was. He stood tall, looking over the party. He looked just like Optimus except, where Optimus was mainly red with a bit of blue; Ultra Magnus was mainly blue with a bit of red. He had a similar face to Optimus but, where he was sleeker; Ultra Magnus was much more bulky. When he saw us, his tight face relaxed slightly.

"Hello, brother," he greeted as he held out a hand. Optimus smiled and tightly gripped it.

"Ultra Magnus, I would like you to meet my sparkmate, Brooke. Brooke, this is my brother, Ultra Magnus," Optimus said, introducing us.

Ultra Magnus nodded towards me. "It is nice to meet you. Optimus spoke very highly of you," he told me. I smiled at him.

"Likewise!" I said. "You nephew, Jace, is running around here somewhere. He'll probably try to crawl on you before the night is over!" I put my arm behind my head and laughed a bit. Ultra Magnus didn't even crack a smile.

The rest of the party went swimmingly, with lots of talking and catching up. Soon the sun began to set and I put Jace to sleep in his room. We stayed up for a bit longer after that but everyone soon left. Cybertronian days started early since the planet was still in a rebuilding phase.

Once everyone was gone, I stepped out to the back porch. The ocean breeze was not too strong and the waves gently lapped against the shore below. So this was our new home. It reminded me so much of Earth, except for the two moons on the horizon. Soon the planet would be populating with humans and Cybertronians alike.

"Why are you out here all alone?" I heard. I turned to see Optimus in holoform stepping out of the house and sliding the door shut behind him.

I smiled and looked out to the sea. "I was just getting some air before I went to sleep. Tonight was a success," I told him. He moved and sat next to me, taking my hand in his.

"Yes, I believe that it was," he thought. "But of course, maybe we should not talk about politics for the moment."

I laughed at him and leaned my head into his shoulder. "Well alright then, what do you want to talk about?"

Optimus looked at me and seemed to study my face. "Are you… happy here? On Cybertron? With me?" he asked.

"What?! Of course I'm happy! There's no place I'd rather be."

Optimus nodded then moved me off of his shoulder and took both of my hands in his. He smiled at me for a moment, and then moved to get down on one knee.

My thoughts raced. Oh, my gosh. This was it. I always knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with Optimus, but seeing Optimus on his knee was great. The only part that seemed off to me was that it was his holoform and not his true self.

"Brooke Nicolle Walters," he addressed. He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a deep red velvet box. He opened it to reveal a shiny silver band with a single diamond in the middle. On the inside of the band, I could see a faintly engraved Autobot symbol. "Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

I smiled at him. Maybe I could freak him out a little bit. "Optimus, I can't," I told him.

Optimus' face fell. His bright blue eyes looked at me with the same brightness that Jace flashed on me often. "I don't understand," he muttered.

I leaned down, cupped his face, and kissed it. "I love you, Optimus, but this holoform isn't you. If I'm going to marry you, I want to marry the real you. Ask me again," I told him. Optimus smirked a bit, understanding what I told him.

He placed the box down on the seat next to me and his holoform fizzled out. Then his true form walked out to the porch. He resumed his position on one knee and his face leaned down to mine.

"Now then, Miss Walters," he smirked, handing me the box again, "Will you be my wife?"

I smiled. "Of course I will, Optimus, of course!"

He smiled and gently took the ring out of the box, which was interesting to see since he had such big fingers. But he managed to grip the ring and slide it onto my finger. It was a perfect fit, meaning he must have talked to my mom.

"The ring is made out of the same metal we used to lay the ground work for New Cybertron. The diamond is one I found of Earth long ago. It is the perfect combination of New Cybertron and Earth," he explained.

I examined the ring on my finger and how it glistened in the moonlight. It was very pretty, and I would be wearing it for the rest of my life.


	26. Brooke Walters Pax

"Oh my goodness, Brooke, you look beautiful," my mom said as she took a step into the room. I smiled and looked into the mirror. I was wearing a stunning floor length white dress with a one shoulder top of a beaded belt. I had to agree, I did look good. My makeup was perfect and Akila curled my hair into a bun on the top of my head.

"Ah-hem, best bridesmaid ever, hello, over here," Akila joked as she adjusted her sleeveless red bridesmaid dress. My mother chucked and kissed her on the forehead.

"Mommy, mommy, look!" Jace ran into the room and turned around. He was wearing black slacks, a red bow tie, white shirt, and black suspenders. I smiled and picked him up.

"You look so fancy, Jace!" I complimented. He giggled at me.

Akila came over and took Jace from me. "Okay, okay, we have to get going! They're expecting you down the aisle at any minute!" she said. She then handed Jace a pillow with the two rings on it. "Alright Jace, you remember what to do right? Just take these rings down to mommy and daddy and, when they look at you, you need to give them the rings, okay?" Jace nodded and took the pillow. "Mom, is Ratch ready?" Ratchet, being one of the oldest mechs here, asked if he would be able to marry Optimus and I. Of course we said yes.

"Let me go get him!" mom said and ran out of the room. As soon as she left, I looked back into the mirror and let out a breath. Today was officially the day. Optimus would be my husband.

"Are you ready?" Akila asked me. She had a bouquet of flowers in her hands and an extra bouquet to hand to me. I smiled. I was ready.

"Ahem," I heard. I turned to see a man who looked just like Optimus. His hair was a graying blue though and shorter. He wore a black tux. It must have been Ultra Magnus, since this was the first time I've ever seen his holoform.

"Oh, hey, Ultra Magnus," I said with a smile. "What's up?"

He leaned against the door frame and took in the dress. "I was speaking to Optimus about Earth customs when it comes to these events. I was made aware that usually a femme's mech creator walked her down this aisle. Since your mech creator is absent, I was inquiring as to who you had walking you down," he asked. Oh, so he was confused about the customs. That was okay, I guess. At least he was interested in Earth culture.

"Oh, I don't have anyone to walk me down. I was just going to do it myself," I told him.

Ultra Magnus cocked his head at that. "Is that not going against the custom?" he asked.

I smiled at him. "Well, yeah, it is, but my dad isn't exactly here to walk me down the aisle," I told him.

"Perhaps a replacement?" he asked me. A replacement for my dad? Who? "A proposal would be that, since I am the closest mech relative to both you and my brother, I could be the one to perform this walk."

No way. Was Ultra Magnus asking if he could walk down the aisle with me?! Even Akila looked shocked. But I smiled and went to hug him. He was going to be my brother-in-law after all. When I did hug him, he stiffened and didn't know what to do.

"Of course you can walk down the aisle with me," I told him. He nodded, his stern face not moving an inch.

Mom returned to the room with Ratchet, in his holoform, as all the Cybertronians would be. As much as I wanted to incorporate their true forms, I knew it would be awkward with a traditional human ceremony.

They then left. Akila was going to meet up with Ironhide and my mother went to relieve Ironhide of twin duty.

A few weeks after we arrived on New Cybertron, Akila gave birth to the twins, Aaron Hide Jr. and Anka Jabari Hide. They were adorable babies with olive skin and dark brown hair. But their eyes were bright blue like Jace's and stood out against their dark skin. They were quite the handful, but we had more than enough babysitters.

Ratchet led me to the area just before where the aisle was. Our wedding was outdoors and a white carpet was rolled out over green grass. The sunset was in the foreground, the same one I saw on the day I arrived to New Cybertron. There was a big white tent set out for the after party, filled with food and drinks for the humans as well as energon and high-grade for the Cybertronians.

Soon it was time and the bridesmaids and groomsmen began to file out. First were Sam and Michaela, followed by Will and Sarah. In front of me was Annabelle who was the flower girl and Jace. Annabelle was being very sweet to Jace and even showing him what to do as they go down the aisle. Finally they went and Annabelle started laying down the flower petals.

Okay. This was it. Showtime.

Ultra Magnus held out his arm and I linked mine through it. Then, arm in arm, we walked out to the public.

When we took a step out, everyone stood up. There were so many Cybertronians there who I didn't recognize because this was the first time using the holoform for many of them. But you could tell who they were because some of the more eager ones were wide-eyed and taking in all of the sights. After I noticed them, I look straight down the aisle.

There was Optimus, looking regal as ever. His black tuxedo had a single red flower attached to it. His blue hair was slicked back and he still had his bit of stubble. I didn't mind; I loved the stubble. His bright blue eyes widened when he saw who was walking me down the aisle.

When we reached the end, Ultra Magnus unlooped my arm and handed it to Optimus. Optimus smiled at him and led me to where Ratchet stood at the end of the aisle.

"Cybertronians," he said, "today we gather to celebrate the union of two great people. But this relationship signifies not only the love between Optimus and Brooke, but the unification of two great races. Their marriage marks the beginning of a new age, a New Cybertron. I have known Brooke for three years now and have seen her at her best and her worst. I've seen her play pranks with the twins as well as take down enemies single handedly. And from what I know of Optimus, which is a lot, she is perfect for him. And their love was manifested in this bright eyed boy you see over here," he nodded towards Jace with a smile. "So, Optimus, your vows."

Optimus smiled and looked at me. He nodded towards Jace, who brought over the pillow with rings. He took my ring off and slid it onto my finger. "Brooke, it has been quite a journey with you. When I found you as a scared little girl in your broken home, I knew then and there that our fates would be intertwined. I didn't know the gravity of our relationship then, but I do now. You are a wonderful, brave person. You have proved yourself as a true Prime and a fantastic mother to our son. You are selfless and always put the fate of the race above your own. And with this ring, I take you as my wife, forever and always." I was tearing up by the end of that.

"And Brooke," Ratchet nodded.

I smiled, took the ring, and slid it on Optimus' finger.

"It's been a hell of a journey with you too," I said with a smile. "Five years ago, if you would have told me I would be getting married to the leader of an alien race, on an alien planet, with my son, I probably would have slapped you. But as soon as I stepped my feet on New Cybertron, I knew this was where I was meant to be. I am happy here. I am happy with you. And I will be with you forever. So, with this ring, I take you as my husband, forever and always."

Ratchet smiled at the two of us. "Well, if there are no objections, with the authority vested in me, by me, I now declare you husband and wife. Optimus, you may kiss your bride."

Optimus leaned in and kissed me as everyone cheered. With that kiss, the deal was sealed and everyone cheered.

No longer was I Brooke Nicolle Walters.

I am Brooke Walters Pax, Prime of Cybertron and wife of Optimus Prime.

* * *

><p><em>And A True Leader is officially over with! Keep on the look out for the sequel and the final installment in the Hero series, <strong>Children of New Cybertron<strong>! Thanks to all of you who kept with this story and all the long waiting time. You all rock. Please please review and tell me what you thought of the story and the last few chapters! _

_Thank you all so much!_


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